US telecom equipment maker 3Com Corporation said Friday it had agreed to a takeover by private equity group Bain Capital Partners, LLC, for 2.2 billion dollars.

The deal also calls for Chinese rival Huawei Technologies to acquire a minority stake in the company and "become a commercial and strategic partner of 3Com," a statement said.

Shareholders will receive 5.30 dollars per share in cash, a premium of 44 percent over 3Com's closing price on Thursday.

The board of directors of 3Com unanimously approved the deal and recommended that shareholders accept it.

"The 3Com Board of Directors and senior management team have thoroughly reviewed our strategic alternatives and have determined that the agreement with Bain Capital provides the best value for 3Com shareholders," said Edgar Masri, 3Com president and chief executive.

"We believe that this agreement better positions 3Com to establish itself as a global networking leader, which will benefit our employees, our customers and our partners."

Financing for the deal will come from Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited, UBS, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, ABN AMRO Bank and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited.

The news is "a sign that the leveraged buyout market has not completely fizzled out amid the recent turmoil in the credit and financial markets," said Richard Jahnke at Briefing.com.

The networking company has struggled in recent years to keep up with market leader Cisco.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Canada's Nortel was interested in buying 3Com but that the deal announced was seen as a better option since 3Com already had a joint venture with Huawei.

The joint firm, Huawei-3Com Co., created in 2003 and based in Hong Kong, offers networking products including routers and switches for the fast-growing Asian market.

3Com was among the early stars of the telecom and Internet boom and in 1997 merged with US Robotics in a deal estimated at 6.6 billion dollars -- at the time the biggest in the data networking industry.

In its latest fiscal year to June, Massachusetts-based 3Com reported a net loss of 88.5 million dollars on revenues of 1.3 billion dollars.

Jonathan Zhu, a Bain Capital managing director based in Hong Kong, said the sector has considerable opportunities.

"As business becomes ever more global, companies need to enhance their technology infrastructure to compete more effectively in the broader economy," he said.

"3Com has a strong competitive position, and we believe there are significant opportunities to grow by acquiring customers and introducing new products. We look forward to working with the management team and the company's strategic partners to seize the worldwide growth opportunity that exists for 3Com's communications networking solutions."