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By Bloomberg

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s second- biggest computer maker, has narrowed the list of bidders for control of two Chinese units that could fetch more than $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd., ICBC International Ltd.’s direct- investment arm RT Capital and state-owned China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Center have been shortlisted, the people said. Hewlett-Packard is selling 51 percent stakes in both its Hangzhou-based networking-gear unit H3C Technologies Co. and its Chinese server business, they said, asking not to be named as the process is private.

Hewlett-Packard is seeking to sell control of the businesses to Chinese investors to win sales to state-owned companies. The U.S. company would be the first major foreign firm to pass control of Chinese operations to local owners since the government stepped up restrictions on overseas hardware companies.

The computer maker aims to start exclusive talks with one suitor as early as next week, two of the people said. For Tsinghua, a purchase would add to the $2.1 billion it has spent acquiring chip companies since 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The structure of the deal hasn’t been finalized and it’s possible some suitors will partner for a combined offer later in the process, two people said.

Elite University

Sarah Pompei, a spokeswoman for HP, declined to comment, while representatives for Tsinghua Unigroup and China Huaxin didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. ICBC International didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment, while a woman who answered the phone at the company’s office in Hong Kong said no one was immediately available.

Hewlett-Packard’s networking units had “a rougher than anticipated” quarter, Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman told analysts in late February, noting that they struggled in China especially. Total networking sales in the three months ended January 31 fell 11 percent from a year earlier.

China has been encouraging the use of local suppliers and aims to purge most foreign technology from the country’s banks, military and government enterprises by 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said in December.

Tsinghua Unigroup, which was founded out of Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University, bought U.S.-listed Spreadtrum Communications Inc. for $1.5 billion in 2013 and won a bidding war for RDA Microelectronics Inc. in a deal completed last year. In September, Intel Corp. agreed to spend as much as 9 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) on a stake in the combined operators of the two chip designers.

Alcatel-Lucent Deal

The firm, which has 40 billion yuan in assets, is led by electronics engineer Zhao Weiguo, who has a master’s degree from Tsinghua University, according to its website. Set up in its current form in 2010, Tsinghua Unigroup said last month it received 10 billion yuan in funding over five years from policy lender China Development Bank Corp. and a government-backed fund to invest in semiconductors.

China Huaxin, which is wholly owned by the government, bought a controlling stake in Alcatel-Lucent SA’s enterprise business for 202 million euros in October last year. It was controlled by China Telecommunications Corp., the country’s largest fixed-line operator, until 2011, according to its website.

State-owned China Electronics Corp. and domestic private- equity firms CDH Investments Fund Management Co. and Citic Capital Partners were also considering offers for the HP networking unit stake, people familiar with the matter said last month.