Dell loses the will to fight for 3PAR

published 3 September 2010

Dell has given up on its bidding war with HP to acquire virtualisation storage company 3PAR.

Yesterday, the company tried to top HP's last bid of $30 (19.48) a share the equivalent of $2 billion by offering 3PAR $32 a share.

However, HP leapt straight back in with an offer of $33 a share, working out as an astounding offer of $2.4 billion.

Now it would seem that Dell has thrown in the towel despite being the first firm to make an offer and walked away, albeit with a $72 million break up fee to soften the blow.

"We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions," said Dave Johnson, senior vice president of corporate strategy at Dell.

Brian Gladden, chief financial officer at Dell, added: "We will continue to put the interests of our customers and shareholders at the forefront of all our decisions. Our focus is to create long-term value."

Now 3PAR has until midnight on 24 September to accept the deal before it expires. HP has said it expects the acquisition to be completed by the end of the calendar year.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.