HP to Acquire Opsware Inc in US $1.6bn Deal
HP to Acquire Opsware Inc in US $1.6bn Deal
July 24th, 2007: Hewlett Packard today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase data center automation vendor Opsware Inc for an estimated US$1.6bn.
The deal will see HP buying Opsware shares at $14.25 each in a cash tender offer. This is an attractive deal for Opsware as it was only at US$10.28 per share at the close of trade on Friday. Opsware provides process, server and network automation products as well as asset and visual application management software.
The move will merge HP’s own enterprise IT management software with Opswares to vastly increase HP’s market share. Opsware is the latest in a series of strategic software acquisitions, including Mercury Interactive and Peregrine Systems, which aims to extend HP’s leadership in Business Technology Optimisation (BTO) products.
According to Opsware Chief Executive Officer Ben Horowitz, The addition of Opsware to the HP Software portfolio will make “HP the obvious choice for powering the next generation of data centers to come."
It’s no surprise that this trend of acquisitions for HP’s software department is continuing, the acquisition of Mecury Interactive has seen a huge growth and return for HP. Second Quarter 2007 saw HP Software revenue grew 58% over the prior year period to $523 million. This was a leading contributor to HP’s overall net revenue gain of 13% year-over-year to $25.5 billion.