Novell Consents to $2.2B Acquisition Bid

Novell’s run as an independent company appears to be all but over. The firm has agreed to terms with Attachmate, a privately held enterprise software vendor, to sell for $2.2 billion.

Through the sale, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, Novell will also divest certain intellectual property for $450 million to a Microsoft-backed consortium.

The deal brings to an end months of speculation about Novell’s fate following an unsolicited takeover bid from the hedge fund Elliot Associates earlier this year. Datamation takes a look.

Goodbye Novell.

After months of speculation about who might acquire Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL), the company announced today that it was being sold to enterprise software vendor Attachmate for $2.2 billion. The deal is set to close in the first quarter of 2011.

Privately held Attachmate will be paying $6.10 per Novell share, which is a 9 percent premium over Novell’s closing stock price on Nov. 19, 2010. As part of the sale, Novell is also splitting out the sale of ‘certain intellectual property assets’ for $450 million, to a consortium led by Microsoft. It is unclear what those intellectual property assets include at this point. Novell did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Read the full story at Datamation:


Novell Sold to Attachmate for $2.2 Billion