PC maker Dell is to acquire Perot Systems for $3.9bn (£2.4bn). The move will boost Dell’s IT services operations.
Plano, Texas-based Perot Systems, founded by former US presidential candidate Ross Perot, will now become Dell’s services unit and will be headed by the firm’s CEO Peter Altabef.
Dell will acquire the company in an all-cash deal, valued at $30 per share, which represents a 68% premium on Perot’s share price when markets closed on Friday.
Dell hopes that the deal will increase the pool of potential customers for its PC hardware business, which has suffered as a result of the recession. Dell’s latest quarterly results revealed a 22% slump in revenue to $12.76bn and profits of $472m, down 23%.
Rival PC maker HP moved into the services field with its acquisition of EDS for $13.9bn in May 2008 and Dell had been tipped to follow HP by widening its product portfolio. Earlier this year the company hired David Jones, who was IBM’s mergers and acquisitions chief.
“This significantly expands Dell’s enterprise-solutions capabilities and makes Perot Systems’ strengths available to even more customers around the world. There will be efficiencies from combining the companies, but the acquisition makes such great sense because of the obvious ways our businesses complement each other,” said Michael Dell, Dell’s chairman and CEO.
Ross Perot Jr., chairman of Perot Systems, said: “This transaction represents a great opportunity for our company and our associates. Today’s announcement is the next step in formalising a relationship that has flourished for some time. When my father founded Perot Systems he envisioned a global information-technology leader. The new, larger Dell builds on that promise and its own successes by taking Perot Systems’ expertise to more customers than ever.”
Dell expects the deal to close in the November-January quarter and it should begin to positively impact Dell’s earnings in FY2012.
