Hewlett Packard trumps Dell with $1.6bn bid for 3PAR
August 23, 2010
Computer maker Hewlett Packard (HP) has launched a $1.6bn (£1bn) bid for data storage firm 3PAR, trumping a $1.2bn offer made by rival Dell last week.
Along with IBM, the two firms are looking into more profitable business areas outside of making computers.
The bids come as part of a glut of merger and acquisitions activity in the technology sector, including last week’s $7.8bn bid for McAfee by Intel.
The HP bid pushed Wall Street higher in early trade, before shares lost ground.
Hewlett Packard
- Founded in 1939
- Employs 304,000 people
- Customers in 170 countries
- Revenue in second quarter 2010: $30.7bn
- Net income in second quarter: $1.77bn
- The world’s largest computer maker
On a day of light trading, the main Dow Jones index closed down 0.4% at 10,174 points.
Shares in 3PAR rose almost 45%, while those in HP slipped 2%.
‘Good fit’
Dell
- Founded in 1984
- Employs 96,000 people
- Customers in 166 countries
- Revenue in second quarter 2010: $15.5bn
- Net income in second quarter: $545m
- The world’s third largest computer maker
HP said that, if its offer was accepted, the deal should be closed by the end of the year.
Analysts said the battle between two of the world’s three largest computer makers to gain control of 3PAR showed their determination to move into so-called cloud computing – technology that allows access to data servers over the internet.
"One of the growth areas in technology is in the enterprise storage space," Joel Levington at Brookfield Investment Management told Bloomberg.
"3PAR’s products fit in well there. It’s an easy way to gain product breadth."
He also expressed doubts about whether Dell would be able to match HP’s offer.