Huawei's potential investors get pared down to five
Word on the street has China's Huawei having selected the five finalists for bidding on a 50 percent stake of its mobile division, a stake that the company hopes will net a solid $2 billion based on a $4 billion valuation. All five of the remaining bidders are private equity firms, suggesting that unless they're concealing their interests through an intermediary, the plethora of carriers rumored to have an interest have all dropped out of the running (or never showed up to begin with). The contenders at this point include Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs, Kohlberg Kravis Robers & Co., Silver Lake, and AEA Investors -- all companies we suspect would have no trouble cutting a $2 billion check that wasn't made out of rubber. Maybe we can settle this the old-fashioned way, with a potato sack race? Just a suggestion.
