February 29th, 2008
Proposed 3Com buyers aim to allay U.S. security concerns (again)
Bain Capital and Huawei will resubmit its bid for 3Com to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. in hopes of closing a deal.
A $2.2 billion buyout of 3Com has been hung up over concerns that China’s Huawei would have access to critical U.S. security and defense architecture.
According to The Wall Street Journal the latest version of the 3Com deal would give Huawei 16.5 percent of the company with Bain getting the rest. However, the deal would limit Huawei’s access to U.S. networking technologies.
On Feb. 20, 3Com, Bain and Huawei pulled their filing with regulators. The deal has raised Congressional hackles because 3Com has defense contracts and also owns TippingPoint, a security software firm.
Separately, 3Com said that it will postpone a shareholder vote on the Bain transaction until March 7. The company also maintained it is still working with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
