Quest acquires BakBone

Acquisition

The 2010 acquisition spree has continued with Quest confirming it would buy data protection software firm BakBone.

The acquisition is set to cost the management software company $55 million (34 million), which will include the settling of "certain debt obligations."

"Quest has a long and successful history of acquiring and building out technically strong products and development teams. BakBone meets these criteria," said Doug Garn, chief executive and president of Quest Software.

"Our respective products are highly complementary, with minimal overlap. The value received from BakBone's employees, technologies, partners and customers is expected to be a key benefit as we seek to expand our market share in the data protection market by building upon our core portfolio."

The deal has already got the thumbs up from the boards of both companies and, subject to the usual regulatory conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.

"We are pleased that we have been able to enter into this definitive agreement on behalf of BakBone's shareholders," said Steve Martin, interim CEO and chief financial officer (CFO) of BakBone.

"Quest has a rich history of recognising new technologies in emerging markets and bringing them to a wider audience through its network of worldwide customers. We are confident that we will see even greater success for our solutions as part of the Quest family, and pleased that Quest saw value in adding us as an integral part of its data protection portfolio."

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.