Continental still interested in mapping firm HERE: CEO

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German automotive supplier Continental (NYSE: CONG) is still interested in working with digital mapping firm HERE, Chief Executive Elmar Degenhart said on Tuesday.

"We are still in talks and haven't lost our optimism that we will strike a deal sometime in the future," he told Reuters at the Frankfurt auto show.

Germany's Manager Magazin in July cited sources as saying that Continental was in talks to acquire an 8 to 10 percent stake in HERE.

Carmakers BMW , Daimler and Volkswagen bought HERE for 2.8 billion euros ($3.35 billion) in 2015 from Finnish telecoms group Nokia as they push ahead with investments in self-driving cars.

Last year Chinese digital mapping company NavInfo <002405.SZ>, Tencent <0700.HK> and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC took a 10 percent stake in HERE, with the German carmakers pledging to reduce their own stakes.

But HERE needs more capital to expand its network of high-precision maps and has been in talks with other investors.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Keith Weir)

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