HP wins 3PAR with $2.4 Billion bid, Dell backs down

The bidding war between HP and Dell over virtualized storage company 3PAR is in its third week, and as of Thursday morning, HP looks to have won. The Palo Alto IT giant turned the tables on Dell with a $2 billion bid last Friday that caused 3PAR to announce it was terminating the merger agreement it had reached with Dell in mid-August.

When Dell received 3PAR's notice of termination, it raised its acquisition offer once again, from $27 per share to $32, and modified the terms of its proposal to include an increased termination fee of $92 million.

3PAR's board of directors determined Dell's offer to be unacceptable, and HP fired back with a counter-offer to buy 3PAR's outstanding common stock for $33 per share.

Thursday morning, the board of directors at 3PAR determined that HP's revised offer was the "Superior Proposal," and again let Dell know its intention of terminating the merger agreement.

Dell responded by saying it would place no further bids.

"We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions," said Dave Johnson, Dell's senior vice president of corporate strategy. "We believe our strategy of creating open, affordable and capable solutions resonates well with customers and will enable us to continue to outgrow the industry."

Brian Gladden, chief financial officer at Dell said, "We will continue to put the interests of our customers and shareholders at the forefront of all our decisions. Our focus is to create long-term value."