Home Depot may cut HD Supply price

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home Depot said Thursday it was in talks with private equity buyers of its HD Supply unit about lowering the original purchase price of $10.3 billion.

Home Depot had previously agreed to sell its wholesale division, which services contractors and homebuilders, to Bain Capital Partners, The Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in June.

The home improvement retailer also announced lowering the price range of a modified Dutch auction tender offer for 250 million outstanding shares, citing current financial market conditions. In a Dutch auction, the shares are bought at the lowest price at which the number of shares sought are tendered.

Home Depot said it would lower the tender offer, announced in July, to between $37 and $42 per share from between $39 and $44 per share.

Home Depot (Charts, Fortune 500) shares fell 6 percent in pre-market trading Thursday, after finishing nearly 4 percent higher on the New York Stock Exchange just a day earlier.