The German vehicle makers consortium has been in talks with General Atlantic for a possible financial help over HERE bid, but the firm is not part of the negotiating team yet. Apparently the trio isn’t as pressured as before to buy now that reports indicate Uber is no longer interested in buying the software which is evaluated by analysts at anywhere between €2 to €4 billion.
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However, according to Reuters, with rival offers falling away – Uber has reportedly dropped out of the race for Here – German carmakers are under less pressure to pay top dollar for Nokia’s mapping assets.
“Talks are yet to dampened, but they’re with a fragile degree of brinkmanship”, said possibly one of the automotive field sources, who might…
The consortium of German auto makers includes companies like BMW, Daimler and Audi, which are big clients of HERE.
Nokia is considering a sale of its HERE unit as it focuses on its core networking business via a proposed merger with Alcatel-Lucent.
Nokia would only say it is progressing with its strategic review of HERE, which might or might not result in a sale of the business.
Financial sources told Reuters that members of different consortia remain in flux while others simply want to “join the winning bid”, whatever its makeup. Fast-growing Uber, which is shaking up established taxi services worldwide, already uses a combination of map services from Google, Apple Inc and Baidu, and the source said it would continue to do so.
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For Audi and BMW, beating Baidu to acquire HERE would be a delicate matter since they also have cooperation deals with the Chinese company on issues such as developing autonomous vehicles and map data in China.
