Dell and Quest Software announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for Dell to acquire Quest, an IT management software provider offering a broad selection of solutions that solve the most common and most challenging IT problems. Under terms of the agreement, approved by the boards of directors of both companies, Dell will pay $28 per share in cash for each share of Quest for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.4 billion, net of Quest’s cash and debt. The transaction is expected to close in Dell’s third fiscal quarter, subject to approval by Quest’s shareholders and customary conditions.
Dell recently announced the formation of its Software Group to build upon its existing software expertise. Dell says that Quest’s software solutions and key technologies are strongly aligned with its own software strategy, and that the acquisition provides critical components to expand Dell’s software capabilities in systems management, security, data protection and workspace management. In addition, it says, Quest’s software portfolio is “highly complementary” to Dell’s scalable design approach to develop solutions that scale with customer needs.
Quest, established in 1987, is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif. and serves more than 100,000 customers worldwide, including 87% of the Fortune 500. The company has approximately 3,850 employees and operates 60 offices in 23 countries.
“The addition of Quest will enable Dell to deliver more competitive server, storage, networking and end user computing solutions and services to customers,” said John Swainson, president, Dell Software Group in a statement released by the company. “Quest’s suite of industry-leading software products, highly-talented team members and unique intellectual property will position us well in the largest and fastest growing areas of the software industry. We intend to build upon the strong momentum Quest brings to Dell.”
Quest supports heterogeneous and next-generation virtualized environments across leading platform vendors. The addition of Quest, including its 1,500 software sales experts and 1,300 software developers, to Dell’s existing software expertise in systems management, security and cloud integration, is the foundation of a $1.2 billion software business, based on annual revenue.
The acquisition follows an announcement in June by Quest that it had entered into an amendment to a previously announced merger agreement with affiliates of Insight Venture Partners to add Vector Capital as a member of a buyout group. At the time, as a result of the amendment, the offered price went from $23 per share in cash to $25.75 per share in cash, lower than the $28 per share in the Dell deal.
For more information, visit www.Dell.com.