Posts
Dell is readying a sweetened offer for data storage provider 3Par after its earlier bid was bested by a $1.6 billion (R11.8bn) proposal by Hewlett-Packard (HP), according to a person familiar with the matter.
The offer might be sent in the coming days, said the person, who declined to be identified because the plans were not public. Last week, Dell had agreed to pay about $1.15bn.
HP said yesterday that it was willing to pay more than twice what 3Par's shares were worth before Dell's bid was announced.
"At this point, the amount of premium these guys are paying is insane," said Kaushik Roy, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. He has a neutral rating on 3Par's stock. "It is not about valuation at this point."
In fighting a bidding war with HP, Dell is challenging the world's largest computer maker and a company with almost $15bn in cash.
3Par would give its new owner a leg up in a challenge to Cisco Systems and IBM in the market for data-centre products and services.
HP and Dell are using acquisitions to move into businesses that generate higher margins than personal computers (PCs).
"HP is going to win," Roy said. "Dell just does not have that ammunition. HP has the balance sheet to buy anything."
While HP has about twice the sales of Dell and is more than three times as profitable, the company is coping with the loss of its chief executive.
0 comments:
Post a Comment