HP Again Tops Dell’s Latest Bid for 3PAR

The 10-day-old bidding war between two stubborn IT superpowers over a relatively small storage company went up another level Sept. 2 when Dell increased its standing offer for 3PAR from $27 to $32 per share, with Hewlett-Packard subsequently upping its own to $33 from $30 a few minutes later.
Dell had faced a deadline by midnight Sept. 1 to respond to 3PAR about HP’s $30 offer. All of HP’s offers are in cash; Dell’s involve a portion of stock. The prices discussed are average prices, since there are varying levels of stock in 3PAR available.
The math regarding the total amount to be paid for 3PAR is a bit fuzzy because of those differing prices on enterprise and common stock. The Associated Press ventured that if HP’s $33 offer were to stand, the total price of the transaction would be $2.07 billion.
Immediately after HP’s $33 offer, 3PAR released a statement acknowledging it as a superior offer to Dell’s. Again, the Fremont, Calif.-based 3PAR is giving Dell another three business days to respond.
Dell did not immediately return calls for comment.
3PAR is considered a prime asset primarily for three reasons:
No. 1: Its clustered, utility-type architecture is tailor-made for cloud systems that deliver software as a service, and cloud storage systems are in high demand at this time.
No. 2: 3PAR began shipping its own brand of autonomic storage tiering, called Adaptive Optimization. The process actually prevents common storage bottlenecks from happening in the first place through a combination of business and operational intelligence, gained by a constant collection of data. 3PAR’s version anticipates data blockages and solves them before they happen.
3PAR Adaptive Optimization follows this concept to enable high-end-type storage systems to achieve an efficient distribution of data over the application life cycle, without needing intervention by an administrator, the company says.
No. 3: The company is available for sale. Others that address the exact market as 3PAR are not available, Dell said.
For more background, see the following eWEEK articles:
Dell, HP Stubbornly Raise Stakes in Bidding War for 3PAR
Why is 3PAR such a hot property?
Dell explains why 3PAR is strategic to its needs
HP’s motives in the bidding war