Hewlett-Packard Co.’s share price little changed, seeks to sell a part of its stake in the H3C Technologies Co. division

A person familiar with the situation reported that Hewlett-Packard Co. is trying to sell part of its networking subsidiary called H3C Technologies Co. The person, who asked not to be named because the process is still not public, said that HP intends to dispose of about 51% of its stake in the networking business and sell it to an Asian buyer.

A spokeswoman of Hewlett-Packard – Sarah Pompei refused to make any comments on the matter.

Andre Kindness, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., said in an interview, cited by Bloomberg: “There’s huge, major shifts going on in the networking industry with people refocusing on core areas. If you look at HP, going down the split, H3C in China is probably too much to manage at the moment.”

H3C Technologies, which is estimated to about $5 billion, sells software products and networking equipment.

The efforts of the U.S.-based company to dispose of a majority stake in this subsidiary once again indicates the tension between the U.S. and China, which affects the technology firms from both countries.

After Hewlett-Packard officially announced earlier in October that it intends to split into two separate companies, it now becomes clear that it is also considering to divest its businesses. The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Meg Whitman, will take the lead over Hewlett-Packard Enterprise after the split is finalized. This part of the company is to concentrate on corporate hardware and services. The other part of the business will become an independent entity called HP Inc. It is to be headed by HPs Vice President of personal-computer and printer division, Dion Weisler.

Hewlett-Packard Co. was 0.03% down to close at $34.93 per share on Friday, marking a one-year increase of 45.54%. The company is valued at $65.19 billion. According to CNN Money, the 25 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Hewlett-Packard Co. have a median target of $40.00, with a high estimate of $45.00 and a low estimate of $34.00. The median estimate represents a +14.51% increase from the last price of $34.93.