This morning Dell announced plans to buy information technology services outfit Perot Systems (PER) for about $3.9 billion.
While there had been speculation that Dell was looking to acquire a handset company like Palm, it seems it was far more interested in boosting its enterprise business by acquiring an outsourcer like Perot.
Under the terms of the deal, Dell will offer $30 a share for Perot, a 68 percent premium over closing price Friday of $17.91.
“This significantly expands Dell’s enterprise-solutions capabilities and makes Perot Systems’ strengths available to even more customers around the world,” Dell CEO Michael Dell said in a statement. “There will be efficiencies from combining the companies, but the acquisition makes such great sense because of the obvious ways our businesses complement each other.”
The deal is expected to close some time in January and when it does, Perot will become Dell’s services unit.
