March 19th, 2008
Ding dong: 3Com, Bain, Huawei deal is dead
3Com on Wednesday officially declared its plan to be acquired by Bain and Huawei dead, saying that it was unable to allay U.S. national security concerns.
3Com, Bain and Huawei, a Chinese networking firm, had filed an application for the merger with Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but the deal raised national security concerns. The companies then withdrew the application, but couldn’t revise the deal in a way that would satisfy security officials.
In a statement, 3Com said:
Since the withdrawal, 3Com, Bain Capital Partners and Huawei Technologies have been working to construct alternatives that would address CFIUS’ concerns. To date, the parties have been unable to agree upon an alternative transaction that addresses CFIUS’ concerns and is acceptable to 3Com’s Board of Directors.
3Com will hold a shareholder vote on the merger plan on Friday, but it’s just a formality.
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.
