Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) says it has “received unsolicited expressions of interest” from private-equity firms interested in taking a stake in the venture, which was attributed to its “recent business momentum.” Rajeev Suri, CEO of the company, did not state what stage the current talks are at, although it has previously been suggested that several parties were considering a US$1 billion investment for a minority stake in the infrastructure vendor. It has also been claimed that both Nokia and Siemens have considered disposing of their stakes in NSN, with Siemens seemingly having the itchiest feet; a sale of its holding to a “credible buyer” and a public offering have both been suggested.

It is currently not clear how a transaction would be structured, including whether both Nokia and Siemens would dilute their holdings equally, or whether one partner would be able to use the transaction to reduce its exposure to NSN by a greater amount. Nokia Siemens Network has suffered in recent months, reporting losses as it struggled to grow its revenue. In a statement, Suri says that the company’s turnaround is “well underway”, trumpeting share gains in “key segments”, established leadership in next-generation technologies such as LTE, an improved financial performance, “landmark” new deals (including a US$7 billion contract to build a network for LightSquared), and its acquisition of the wireless infrastructure assets of Motorola. A recent Infonetics Research report indicated that NSN’s mobile network market share is increasing, pushing it closer to market leader Ericsson.