Attachmate, which supplies network management solutions, agreed to acquire Novell for $6.10 per common share in cash -- a transaction value of approximately $2.2 billion.
Attachmate Corporation is owned by an investment group led by Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo. 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."http://www.attachmate.com
http://www.novell.com
- Novell, which was founded in 1979, was an early leader in local area networking and the displacement of mainframe computing by PCs. The company traces its origins to the Eyring Research Institute (ERI) in Provo, Utah. Novell NetWare and its proprietary IPX protocol grew to become the dominant network operating system by early 1990s, before the market shifted to native TCP/IP.
