Palm's stock popped yesterday after private-equity firm Harbinger Capital Partners revealed it purchased a 9.5 percent passive stake in the embattled smartphone maker.
Harbinger, which manages $10.1 billion, revealed its stake in Palm in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Palm's stock finished up 3.1 percent yesterday--after rising by as much as 10 percent during the day's trading--at $5.32. Harbinger is now the third-largest shareholder in the company.
Palm's stock and future has been in flux all week following reports that the company tapped Goldman Sachs and another investment bank, Qatalyst Partners, to find a buyer. Harbinger catapulted itself into the wireless world late last month when it revealed plans to deploy a nationwide LTE network using both terrestrial and MSS spectrum following the firm's merger with satellite operator SkyTerra.
Meanwhile, speculation continues to swirl about potential Palm buyers. Huawei, which has been mentioned as a potential suitor, said it was "open to all the possible opportunities" for expansion in North America, according to Charlie Chen, a senior vice president at the company.
"We see it's more and more important to have smartphones in this market," he told Bloomberg. Huawei approached Palm in February through an investment bank about preliminary buyout discussions, Reuters reported this week, but the talks stalled.
For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Reuters article
- see this Bloomberg article
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