Dell will go public and return to private hands with the help of Microsoft

After a month of news about Dell's reconversion and its possible going public, today the definitive solution has arrived. The company will be reacquired by private capital, thus ceasing its public listing. In this way, the computer giant puts an end to almost 25 years of presence on the NASDAQ and returns to private hands with the intention of carrying out a strong restructuring of its main business lines to respond to the new challenges of that post-war era. -PC that has been talked about so much.

The value of the purchase amounts to a total of 24.400 million dollars, more than 18,000 million euros. The deal has been financed from a mix of investors, including, among others, the company's own CEO, Michael Dell, major investment funds such as Silver Lake and MSD Capital, and also Microsoft, which provides a loan of 2,000 million dollars to the operation. Dell shareholders will receive $13.65 per share. 25% more compared to the price of 10.88 dollars at which the company was listed on January 11, the day the rumors began to circulate.

Dell had long suffered first hand the stagnation of the personal computer market. Without going any further, last year more than a third of its value was left on the floor. Returning to being private, the company gains the freedom to carry out all those changes it deems necessary without being subject to the periodic control of the shareholders. The option had been considered internally since August 2012, until last night when the members of the board of directors met and voted in favor of the transaction, which must be approved by the shareholders.

The presence of Microsoft has been instrumental in closing the deal. Its participation in the operation will ultimately be 2 billion dollars in the form of a loan. From Redmond they have published a brief note explaining their involvement:

The truth is that his intention to obtain in exchange some capacity to influence the future of the computer manufacturer seems to have been one of the last points to solve before closing the deal. According to sources familiar with the process, Microsoft's intention was for Dell to maintain its commitment to Windows in light of the possible transformation of the company and its intention to depend less on the business of personal computers. Other sources also cite interest in the Texas company's portfolio of more than 2,400 patents.

With this action, Microsoft obtains a strategic relationship with which it has been one of its main 'partners' throughout all this years.If with the help of Nokia they approached a mobile phone manufacturer, with the current help of Dell they are approaching one of the largest manufacturers of personal computers in the world. It will be interesting to know the reaction of other partners who already showed concern when from Redmond they chose to approach hardware manufacturing with Surface.

Via | The Verge More information | Dell Image | Courtesy of Dell Inc.