JOIN USDell Inc is getting closer to a buyout after Blackstone Group and billionaire investor Carl C Icahn sent preliminary deal proposals, signalling a possible three-way competition for controlling the computer maker.
Private equity firm, Blackstone Group submitted an offer ahead of the expiration of a “go-shop” stage yesterday that allowed Dell to look at new options, a source said.
Blackstone has not so far put together bank financing but it has worked out some arrangement with potential lenders, he added. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who has a minority stake in Dell and is against the offer by founder Michael Dell and his private equity partner Silver Lake, also made an offer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Particulars of the competing offers were not straight away known, but any rival bid would have to prove sweeter than the $13.65-per-share offer of Dell’s founder and Silver Lake.
The company’s directors have spent around one and half months trying to locate alternatives to a $24.4 billion offer from Michael Dell and the private equity firm.
Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, who were among those asked to take part in the “go-shop” period, however have been discounted as possible buyers. Sources said they were only taking a look at Dell’s financials.
A spokesman for Dell declined to comment.
Signs of potential rival bidders for Dell could help raise the price of the offer by Dell and his PE partner that shareholders have complained of being low.
Southeastern Asset Management and T Rowe Price, two of the company’s biggest investors, have said they will not accept the USD 13.65-per-share offer by the computer maker’s founder.
Icahn has reportedly told the company’s special board committee that he opposed the transaction. He agreed to participate in the evaluating process last week.