Novell to be acquired by Attachmate

David Heath
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 09:33

IT Industry - Listed Tech

Announced overnight, Novell is to be acquired by Attachmate Corporation for $US2.2b.

Following reports of the intended raid by Elliot Associates and its subsequent rejection, it was always obvious that the end of Novell as an independent company was close at hand.

More recently, reports arose suggesting that a break-up of the company was in the wings.

Well, the final outcome was somewhere between the two.  Overnight, Novell announced a two-part sale.

The first part was a full merger with Attachmate Corporation.  Attachmate Corp is owned by an "investment group" and thus Novell will indeed fall into private hands.  Attachmate Corp owns (amongst other assets) the Attachmate suite of software and NetIQ.

The second, and much more intriguing component was announced as follows: "Novell also announced it has entered into a definitive agreement for the concurrent sale of certain intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of technology companies organized by Microsoft Corporation, for $450 million in cash, which cash payment is reflected in the merger consideration to be paid by Attachmate Corporation."

Attachmate's offer, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, is also conditional upon the intellectual property transaction's prompt completion.