This morning, HP raised its previous bid – unprovoked from any announced offer from Dell, which started the acquisition duel – to $33 per share, or about $2.4 billion for 3Par, according to a news release from 3Par.
Dell had three days to match or top that offer, though the 3Par board of directors determined that HP’s latest offer consistuted a “superior proposal.” So, 3Par notified Dell of its intention to enter into a merger agreement with HP, also resulting in a $92 million payout from Dell to 3Par as part of a recently increased termination fee, according to a news release. In a statement on its Website, Dell conceded that it will not contest HP's new bid amount.
“We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions,” said Dave Johnson, Dell senior vice president, corporate strategy.
The call-and-response bidding for 3Par – a Silicon Valley-based firm that specializes in highly virtualized, dynamically tiered, multi-tenant storage arrays built for public and private cloud computing – started Aug. 16 with an offer by Dell for $18 a share, or about $1.2 billion.
3Par accepted the offer made today by HP, which was $3 more per share than a pitch made last week. Dell had been considering its next move in a three-day grace period given because of its initial agreement with 3Par.
Both companies were looking to acquire 3Par as a quick way to build up their cloud computing enterprises and increase off-site storage.
Justin Kern is associate editor at Information Management and can be reached at justin.kern@sourcemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @IMJustinKern.
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