IBM close to US$7bn offer for Sun

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that IBM is close to finalising a deal to buy Sun Microsystems.

IBM is said to be considering an offer of US$9.55 a share for Sun, which would value the company at around US $7 billion.

Shares in Sun are currently trading at around US$8.20 and have risen today on the news.

However, the reports indicate that Sun is trying to negotiate a deal where it will cooperate as long as IBM agrees to rigorously defend the merger against anti-trust action, a considerable worry for the deal.

If completed IBM and SUN would control the vast majority of the tape storage market and nearly two thirds of the high-end UNIX server market.

Competitors like would be highly likely to appeal to regulators over the deal.

Sun apparently fears that if the deal is called off for anti-trust reasons then its stock price will suffer, as Yahoo’s did when Google was forced to of negotiations for similar reasons.

Edward Henneberry, a Washington, D.C., antitrust attorney and former antitrust regulator in Ireland and Brussels, told the paper that Sun may seek an agreement that IBM will go to court if challenged rather than canceling the deal. Or Sun may demand the buyer go through with the deal no matter what remedies or divestitures the regulators order.