A number of private-equity firms have submitted first-round bids for Motorola’s Home & Networks Mobility unit, according to Reuters. Bain Capital, TPG Capital, Blackstone Group, Silver Lake Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co offered bids by a deadline of last Wednesday, notes the news agency. Reuters claims that Motorola’s advisers, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, have sent out the sales prospectus to dozens of potential buyers, who may also include cable broadband vendor Arris Group.

Rumours of the sale were first broken by the Wall Street Journal last month. The unit – which makes set-top boxes and networking equipment – is believed to be valued at up to US$5 billion. The unit had US$10.1 billion in 2008 sales. Motorola is keeping quiet on the development, but has previously stated it plans to split into two independent, publicly traded companies (one of which will be its mobile device division).