Dell has walked away from the bidding war over cloud storage firm 3PAR after deciding not to match HP’s $33 per share offer.
Dell’s departure from discussions means that HP should now seal the deal in an acquisition worth around $2.4bn. HP Believes that acquiring 3PAR will enable it to better compete with the likes of EMC in the storage world.
Dell began the bidding for 3PAR in mid-August with an $18 per share offer, which prompted HP to wade in with a bigger offer. The bidding war now appears over, with HP triumphing with its $33 per share deal.
"We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions," said Dell senior vice president for corporate strategy Dave Johnson in a statement. The firm is entitled to a $72m termination fee.
The statement added that Dell’s final offer to acquire 3PAR, which included a proposed commercial relationship and an increased break-up fee, was not accepted by 3PAR’s board of directors.
3PAR said in a statement that it had informed Dell of its intention to terminate their merger agreement after a period of three business days and enter into a merger agreement with HP.
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Speaking to CBR in July this year 3PAR CEO David Scott said that he had big growth plans for the firm. "We see a nine billion dollar addressable market for storage area network products and services and we told the Street we see a 16 to 21% growth as our target… My mission this year as CEO is in fact to re-ignite growth and we will be making significant investment in sales and marketing to do help do that."
