HP Wins Bidding War for 3PAR at 33 a Share

September 2nd 2010

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Technology provider HP (www.hp.com) put an end to an 18-day bidding war with rival Dell (www.dell.com) on Thursday to acquire cloud storage provider 3PAR (www.3par.com) for $33 a share.

Dell backed down after the board of 3PAR revealed HP's latest offer is a "superior proposal" over Dell's updated bid of $32 a share.

Since mid-August, the two technology giants have been trying to out-bid one another for the control of 3PAR, starting with Dell's initial bid of $18 a share.

HP raised the bar a few days later to $24 a share, which was soon beat by Dell, then countered it with a $27 per share bid.

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

Dell CFO Brian Gladden added that the company would "continue to put the interests of our customers and shareholders at the forefront" of all its decisions.

3Par saw a 4.6 percent increase to $33.57 a share Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange, and HP saw a 2 cent increase to $39.23 a share.

Meanwhile, Dell saw a 16 cent decrease to $11.96 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

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