Private equity (PE) firms Bain Capital and Silver Lake have reportedly submitted formal offers for a majority stake in Huawei Technologies’ mobile handset division.

Private equity (PE) firms Bain Capital and Silver Lake have reportedly submitted formal offers for a majority stake in Huawei Technologies’ mobile handset division. The unit was reported to be worth more than $3.5 billion when the auction started in May 2008. Several PE firms including AEA Investors, General Atlantic, Providence Equity Partners and the buyout arm of Goldman Sachs, which were earlier interested in the controlling stake, are no longer part of the process.