Uber joins Baidu as Nokia’s maps unit draws multiple bidders

NEW YORK — Uber Technologies is teaming up with Baidu Technologies and Apax Partners to pursue Nokia Oyj’s maps business, people with knowledge of the matter said, as a bidding war for the unit intensifies.

Another group, comprising China’s Tencent, NavInfo and Swedish buyout firm EQT Partners AB, is also bidding for the unit, which may fetch as much as US$4 billion (S$5.33 billion), three of the people said, asking not to be identified because negotiations are private.

Microsoft has offered to buy a minority stake, while three US private-equity firms — Hellman & Friedman, Silver Lake Management and Thoma Bravo — are also in the running, the people said.

The next round of bids for the maps unit, known as HERE, is due in two weeks, they said. Baidu, China’s largest search engine, is partnering with Uber, the San Francisco-based taxi challenger, to avoid regulatory scrutiny, one of the people said. A group of German carmakers comprising Audi, BMW and Daimler is also interested in the business, two of the people said.

Representatives for Audi, Apax, Baidu, Daimler, EQT, HERE, Hellman & Friedman, Microsoft, Nokia, Tencent, Silver Lake, Thoma Bravo and Uber declined to comment. Calls to BMW representatives were not returned.

Nokia’s US-traded shares rose less than 1 per cent to US$6.96 at the close in New York. Baidu’s US-listed shares fell less than 1 per cent to close at US$191.32.

NOKIA REFOCUSING

Nokia’s digital-maps business provides data to Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo! and car-navigation systems for companies including Toyota and Honda. The potential valuation suggests Nokia’s mapping assets have lost value since 2008, when the company spent US$8.1 billion to buy map provider Navteq.

Still, with bidders lining up, the potential value of the sale could be climbing: as recently as April the company was said to be seeking more than €3 billion. The company had also sought bids from companies including Facebook and Alibaba, people with knowledge of the matter said last month.

Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, is seeking to sell the mapping unit as it focuses on mobile-network equipment and services to better compete with Huawei Technologies. Nokia agreed to buy Alcatel-Lucent SA for €15.6 billion last month to create the world’s largest supplier of equipment that powers mobile-phone networks. BLOOMBERG