SEATTLE — Hewlett-Packard Co. has again raised its bid for 3Par Inc. above an offer from rival Dell Inc., suggesting that the little-known data-storage maker could be worth more with one of the PC companies’ marketing muscle behind it.
The latest offer from HP for $27 per share in cash, or about $1.69 billion, is nearly three times what 3Par had been trading at before Dell made the first bid last week.
Earlier on Thursday, Dell said 3Par had accepted its second offer of $24.30 per share in cash, or $1.52 billion. Dell made its first offer, $18 per share, for 3Par on Aug. 16, and HP responded Monday with a bid of $24 per share.
HP and Dell, two of the world’s largest personal computer makers, are looking at 3Par as a way to build up their “cloud computing” businesses, which involve delivering software, data storage and other services to customers over the Internet. Either company would buy 3Par in part to cut data-storage costs.
Before the bidding began, 3Par had been trading at about $10 per share. Some analysts described even Dell’s initial offer price, at two-thirds of HP’s latest bid, as too steep.
But Andy Hargreaves, an analyst for Pacific Crest Securities, said Thursday that Dell and HP are willing to pay more than twice 3Par’s previous value because they believe they have the marketing and distribution muscle to turn 3Par into a much larger business. Revenue for 3Par in the most recent fiscal year, which ended in March, was $194 million — less than 1 percent of Dell’s revenue in the most recent year.
Dell may have even made what it knew was a low offer to start, Hargreaves said, to take advantage of turmoil at HP, where CEO Mark Hurd had just resigned in the wake of a sexual-harassment allegation against him. Hurd had led HP through many acquisitions aimed at broadening the business beyond PC sales.
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