Dell and Quest Software today have declared that Dell is all set to buy Quest, an IT management software provider that solves common IT problems, in an agreement under which Dell will pay US$28.00 per share in cash for each share of Quest for an aggregate purchase price of approximately US$2.4 billion, net of Quest’s cash and debt.
Dell has revealed its plans for the development of its Software Group to build upon its existing software expertise which will add to Dell’s enterprise solutions capability, accelerate strategic growth and further differentiate the company from competitors by increasing its solutions portfolio with Dell-owned intellectual property. The acquisition provides critical components to expand Dell’s software capabilities in systems management, security, data protection and workspace management.
Quest has a diversified software portfolio and generated $857 million in global revenue based on its fiscal year 2011 results at gross margins of 86 percent and operating margins of 11 percent. Quest supports heterogeneous and next-generation virtualized environments across leading platform vendors. The addition of Quest, including its 1,500 software sales experts and 1,300 software developers, to Dell’s existing software expertise in systems management, security and cloud integration, is the foundation of a $1.2 billion software business, based on annual revenue.
