German engineering giant Siemens (SI) would increase its efforts to exit or reduce its exposure in Nokia Siemens Networks, the telecoms equipment joint venture with Nokia (NOK), as a six-year old shareholder agreement ends in April, the Financial Times reported.
Siemens may reduce its stake in the venture to below 20 percent from the current 50 percent, the report added, quoting a person close to the company.
The two firms had mooted the sale of the venture as far back as in 2011 and had talked to private equity groups at that time.
Siemens is reported to ideally like a private equity investor or a consortium with expertise in technology to take a controlling stake in Nokia Siemens Networks.
Another option is for Nokia Siemens Networks to buy telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and form two companies - one in mobile broadband and another in IP and optical networks.
Analysts are of the view that Nokia Siemens Networks has an enterprise value of 10 billion euros, although the person close to Siemens believe it is high.
Siemens closed higher by 1.5 percent on Friday at 78.39 euros.
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