An unnamed strategic bidder, widely assumed to be Dell, may be closer than ever to acquiring Quest Software in the latest round of a series of bids for the enterprise software applications developer.
Quest this week reported it had received a proposal from a strategic bidder to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Quest common stock for $US27.50 per share in cash, or a total of about $US2.32 billion.
The unnamed bidder is reported by Reuters to be Dell, citing a source close to the matter.
The naming follows multiple reports that Dell in late May made an initial bid for Quest worth over $US2 billion but then broke off talks due to disagreements over price.
That followed its March $US2 billion acquisition bid by Insight Venture Partners, a private equity firm.
After the May strategic bid for Quest, Insight Venture Partners and a new partner, investment firm Vector Capital, on June 19 increased its offer to $US25.75 per share.
Quest offers six categories of software, including database management, data protection, performance monitoring, user workspace management, windows server management, and identity and access management.
The acquisition of Quest, should it happen, would be a continuation of a new phase in Dell's move to expand its business beyond its commodity hardware roots.
The company's acquisition focus over the last few years was on building a midrange and enterprise storage practice, and included companies like EqualLogic, Compellent and several smaller firms.
However, the company appears to be shifting its focus to software. Dell in April disclosed plans to acquire Make Technologies, a developer of application modernisation software and services for helping customers re-engineer existing applications for more modern IT environments.
That came just days after Dell acquired Clerity Systems, a provider of solutions and services that help customers move from legacy computing systems into new industry-standard systems and even the cloud.
This article originally appeared at crn.com
Issue: 315 | May 2013
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