The private equity owners of Avaya Inc had been exploring a possible sale of the telecommunications equipment company earlier this year, said a Reuters report. The move would be done instead of taking the company public and had been in discussions with Coracle Corp for the possible sale, said three people familiar with the matter this week.

Silver Lake and TPG Capital LP had been in discussions with Oracle in the first half of 2013 regarding a transaction. However, the talks cooled down in the last few months, said sources. Silver Lake and TPG Capital had took California based Avaya Inc private for a deal valued USD84.4 billion last 2007.

In 2011, Avaya filed for a public debut but never pushed through despite very favorable market conditions. This was due to concerns over convincing its investors regarding the telecommunications equipment firm's growth prospects, said a Reuters report.

The report from Reuters continued saying the efforts to sell Avaya had highlighted the challenges that confronted the private equity firms in cashing out their investments in the company. Avaya had been in fierce competitive race with rivals ShoreTel Inc. and Cisco Systems.