Attachmate Corp. to acquire Novell for $2.2 billion

Attachmate Corp. to acquire Novell for $2.2 billion

2010-12-28 21:07:45 GMT+7 (ICT)

HOUSTON, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) -- Attachmate Corporation has announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Novell, Inc. for approximately $2.2 billion.

Attachmate would be paying a purchase price of $6.10 per common share in cash for Novell, a leader in intelligent workload management, which helps organizations securely deliver and manage computing services across physical, virtual and cloud computing environments through solutions for identity and security, systems management, collaboration and Linux based operating platforms.

As part of the transaction, Elliott Management Corporation, one of Novell's largest shareholders, will become an equity shareholder in Attachmate Corporation. Upon close, Attachmate Corporation will manage a brand portfolio consisting of Attachmate, NetIQ, 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. "We have great respect for Novell's business, its employees and its commitment to customers. Moreover, we look forward to maintaining and further strengthening Novell and SUSE solutions to meet market demands."

Attachmate Corporation, which is owned by an investment group led by Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo, is currently expecting to close the deal in the first quarter of 2011, but it is subject to customary closing conditions including antitrust clearance, Novell stockholder approval and certain other regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

The transaction is also conditioned upon the concurrent closing of Novell's planned sale of certain intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings LLC.

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