Attachmate Novell acquisition finalised

Attachmate confirms its acquisition of Novell as we bid farewell to the independent life of the former powerhouse.

By Tom Brewster, 28 Apr 2011 at 11:25

Attachmate Group’s $2.2 billion (£1.4 billion) purchase of Novell has been completed, following the acquisition announcement on 22 November last year.

As part of Attachmate, Novell will operate as two separate units under the Novell and SUSE brands, the group said yesterday.

This week’s confirmation was the final nail in the coffin for Novell as an independent local area networking force, which went through a difficult 2010 as it sought a buyer.

Novell turned down an acquisition proposal from Elliott Associates for around $1.8 billion in March 2010, claiming the bid was inadequate.

Following the rejection, and some disappointing quarterly results announced in August, Novell’s directors said they would seek ways of improving stockholder value, including considering a sale of the company.

Novell eventually decided to accept the offer from Attachmate - a connectivity solutions and security software company owned by an investment group of Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo. The group also owns NetIQ.

“Novell, SUSE, Attachmate and NetIQ have complementary product portfolios and many shared customers,” said Ron Hovsepian, president and chief executive (CEO) of Novell, last November.

“We believe the transaction with Attachmate Corporation will deliver important benefits to Novell's customers, partners and employees by providing opportunities for building on Novell's history of innovation and market leadership.”

When the deal was announced in 2010, Attachmate agreed to sell certain intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings, a consortium of technology firms headed by Microsoft, for $450 million.