HP Sells 51 Percent Stake In H3C Chinese Networking Business

Hewlett-Packard has reportedly gone through with a deal which sees a majority stake in its Chinese networking business sold to private equity firm Tsinghua Unigroup.

A 51 percent stake in HP’s H3C, which makes routers, Ethernet switches, and wireless LAN hardware, will be sold to the Chinese buyer, according to Tsinghua Holdings spokesperson Li Zhongxiang.

Major stake

Li did not disclose the value of the deal, but an official announcement will most likely be due this week. Tsinghua’s 51 percent stake is estimated to be worth around £1 billion.

HP had valued the total cost of the H3C business at $5.5 billion, and was hearing from a number of prospective Chinese buyers more than a year ago, Reuters learned.

In recent years, Western technology companies have struggled in the Chinese market following security concerns in the post-Snowden era. HP’s sell-off comes at a time where companies such as Microsoft and Amazon fail to clinch customer wins in the region, losing out to Chinese national rivals.

HP has yet to respond to TechWeekEurope’s request for comment at the time of publication.

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