On the cusp of closing its deal to acquire EMC Corp. Dell has confirmed plans to sell its software division, including Quest Software and SonicWall. The move is considered to be Dell’s efforts to fund the EMC deal.
According to a news release, Dell signed a deal with two private equity buyers–buyout firm Francisco Partners and the private equity arm of the hedge fund Elliott Management Corp.–to sell off Dell Software Group. No price was disclosed, but according to Reuters, which first reported the deal, the price is more than $2 billion.
The software asset bundle includes Quest Software and SonicWall. Those two are frequently mentioned in the same breath with EMC’s Documentum content management system division. As recently as April, Dell and EMC were said to be looking for a combined $4 billion from the sale of those assets, altogether.
Four years after buying Quest Software for $US2.36 billion and SonicWall for $US1.2 billion, the sell-off comes at a time of great change for the tech giant, with its $US67 billion acquisition of EMC looming large.
EMC acquired Documentum in 2003 for $1.7 billion. It’s part of EMC’s Enterprise Content Division. Dell has already divested its security division, SecureWorks ($SCWX), in an April IPO that fell short of expectations.
With the company looking to finance the move, the sale follows NTT Data’s acquisition of Dell’s IT services arm earlier this year for $US3.05 billion, alongside the selling of over $US20 million in bonds.