Dell really wants to get its hands on storage vendor 3PAR. So much so, it’s willing to pay approximately $1.6 billion, or almost $500 million more than it originally offered.
Dell was forced to outbid rival HP for one of last few remaining independent storage providers after HP, knowing that Dell’s original offer included a provision that it would meet or beat competing bids, offered $24 a share in the interim.
The question now is whether or not HP wants to keep playing this high-stakes game of chicken with Dell.
Both companies are after 3PAR for its “utility storage” solution, which they believe will boost their presence in the market for cloud-based storage applications.
3PAR bills its multi-tenant, clustered storage architecture as a platform for the delivery of software and hardware as a service for virtualized data centers and cloud computing.
Dell upped its bid for storage vendor 3PAR today, besting HP’s offer by a slim margin of $0.30 per share in cash, or approximately $1.6 billion, net of 3PAR’s cash.
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) had previously signed an agreement to acquire 3PAR (NYSE: PAR) for $18 a share, with a provision for matching competing bids.
Dell and 3PAR have signed an amendment to the agreement reflecting the new offer price of $24.30 per share. The amendment also includes a revised termination fee of $72 million, which is payable in the event that 3PAR receives and accepts another unsolicited acquisition proposal that its board determines to be superior to Dell’s increased offer.