German carmakers and General Atlantic join forces in attempt to land Nokia map firm

Notable carmakers from Germany have decided to team up with the private equity firm General Atlantic in an attempt to land the rights to Nokia's mapping unit HERE.

The German carmakers consortium is led by Audi, BMW, and Mercedes.

The bidding was originally inspired after Nokia decided to launch a review of its business maps which has now led to an auction with companies such as Baidu and Uber going up against well-known carmakers in an attempt to secure the rights to the lucrative property, according to Reuters.

It is estimated that HERE could eventually end up being sold for $4 billion.

The only thing that looks certain for now, is that the deal for HERE is likely not going to come cheap to anyone who seeks it.

Business Insider reports that Audi, BMW, and Mercedes are each expected to put up around 700 million euros each in an attempt to win HERE.

For their part, General Atlantic would reportedly own a 30% stake in the carmaker-led consortium, but exact percentages for each of the parties has reportedly not been determined at this point.

According to Re/Code, the carmaker group has yet to receive an official response back from Nokia regarding their bid. Their decision to either raise their bid or withdraw altogether could be based on Nokia's response.

The carmaker-led group is reportedly open to bringing in other parties to the proceedings in an attempt to bring more money to the table, but all the three maintain that they want to retain control over the property should they manage to land it.

Analysts privy to the details of the planned sale have placed the value of HERE at right around 2 to 4 billion euros.

Tencent Holdings and NavInfo from China along with the Swedish firm EQT Partners are also participating in the bidding.