News

Attachmate To Acquire Novell for $2.2 Billion

• By Chris Paoli
• November 29, 2010

Novell last week announced it will be sold to Attachmate, a business software company based in Seattle, for $6.10 per share. The deal, reported last Monday, is worth an estimated $2.2 billion.

Novell also agreed to sell certain intellectual property to CPTN Holdings for $450 million in cash. CPTN Holdings is a Microsoft-organized consortium of technology companies.

"We are pleased that these transactions appropriately recognize the value of Novell's relationships, technology and solutions, while providing our stockholders with an attractive cash premium for their investment," said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell, in a statement.

Attachmate, owned by the investment group featuring Golden Gate Capital, Francisco Partners and Thoma Bravo, came out of relative left field to purchase Novell after rumors of the Massachusetts-based software company was planning to sell itself in two parts to two different sellers surfaced in September.

While Attachmate did purchase the entirety of the company, it plans to operate it as two separate business units -- Novell and SUSE.

"This acquisition will add significant assets to our current portfolio holdings and the Novell and SUSE brands will allow us to deliver even more value to customers," said Jeff Hawn, chairman and CEO of Attachmate Corporation, in a press release.

Although Novell stock closed lower ($5.95 per share) than the buying price at the end of trading today, analyst experts expect the company's stock to post a positive growth for share for the year when the company releases its 2010 earnings report on Thursday.

The two companies expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2011 after it clears regulatory approvals and conditions.