Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz battle to acquire Nokia’s HERE maps business

According to Reuters’ sources, BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen, which owns Audi, have reached a standoff over the group’s potential purchase of Here.

Negotiations between the German firms and Nokia have not broken down but are at a delicate stage, said one source.

Analysts guess the plausible importance of HERE at between two billion and four bln dollars ($2.4 bln to really $5.four bln).

This means that Uber has pulled out of the race and the consortium of German vehicle makers doesn’t feel compelled to offer a higher bid for Nokia’s HERE maps business since there are fewer bidders now. That advanced technology of self-driving cars heavily relies on detailed maps that help the software create driving routes.

Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are believed to be the three finalists for acquiring Nokia’s very successful HERE maps 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.

They can’t let Nokia’s maps business to be acquired by a rival technology company, since it could affect their access to high-definition maps, thus slowing their ability to expand in the area of connected cars.

There’s one more player in the bidding process: private equity firm General Atlantic.

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Once considered a frontrunner for HERE, Uber has just bought some of Microsoft’s mapping assets, and appears out of the running. It was thought Uber, Baidu and Apax were lining up a consortium to rival the German auto firms. 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.