Huawei reportedly lost out on two major deals in the US last month due to ongoing concerns that the Chinese firm is seen as a security threat by the US authorities. Bloomberg reports that it lost out in both the race to acquire Motorola’s networks business (which was acquired by NSN) and software supplier, 2Wire (acquired by Pace). In each case, say sources, Huawei was reported to have offered at least US$100 million more than the winning bidders. Huawei’s attempts to acquire the assets failed despite the fact it has hired Morgan Stanley as an advisor alongside a string of top law firms. “There is still some scepticism in the US about any potential sale of technology assets to a Chinese company,” said Wilson Chai, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong. “After years of trying in the US, Huawei hasn’t made any significant breakthroughs in that market.” Recent reports have suggested that Huawei is considering making several dramatic concessions to prove it is transparent, including going public on a US or Hong Kong exchange, shaking up its management, or creating a US company that is independent of Chinese control.

Bloomberg notes that – in the case of the Motorola deal – Huawei may have also been outmanoeuvred by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) during negotiations. In order to close the gap on Huawei’s offer – which was thought to be about 10 percent higher  – NSN reportedly let Motorola keep an additional US$150 million in accounts receivable, cash and some other assets. Motorola was also allowed to retain most of the patents at the unit. NSN acquired the business for US$1.2 billion in a deal announced last month. Meanwhile, Huawei is understood to have lost out on the 2Wire deal due to concerns that the transaction would be slowed by the US government review process.