Dell votes to buy back VMware tracking stock and go public again – TechCrunch
Dell just announced that it has agreed to buy back the VMware tracking stock from the EMC acquisition. The company confirmed the buy-back price of $ 120 per share for a total of $ 23.9 billion. With today's move, Dell will return to being publicly traded.
Sixty-one percent of shareholders voted in favor of the deal. It's unclear how Wall Street will deal with the $ 50 billion debt load the company is carrying as a result of that $ 67 billion EMC acquisition from two years ago, but chairman and CEO Michael Dell got the results he wanted.
"With this vote , we are simplifying Dell Technologies' capital structure and aligning the interests of our investors, "Dell said in a statement.
A company spokesperson confirmed that Dell is going public again. "Portions of Dell Technologies have been publicly traded through, for example, VMware and the tracker stock. The NYSE: DELL Class C shares will enable investors to invest in the full-width of Dell Technologies company. "In plain terms, that means the company will be sold on the New York Stock Exchange under the DELL symbol.
EMC deal was a pay-out to shareholders based on VMware tracking stock. VMware was a key part of the deal in that it was one of the more valuable pieces in the EMC federation of companies. It was still running as a separate company with separate stock listing.
There was a lot of drama before this vote with activist investor Carl Icahn sued the company last month after Dell announced a price of $ 21[ads1].7 billion for the tracking stock last July. The move did get Dell to move the needle on the price a bit, although not as much as Icahn had hoped.
With today's vote, Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst at Constellation Research, says that the company is looking to move away van activistische beleggers zoals Icahn and Elliott Management naar meer traditionele institutionele beleggers. "Michael Dell is trying to rid his short term activist shareholders for more mid-term long-term institutional types as he goes public again," Wang explained.
As the company returns to the public markets, it means it is in the redelijk uniek positie of gaan van, van openbaar naar particulier naar publiek weer. Dell originally went public in 1988 before taking the company privately again in 2013 in a $ 24.4 billion buy-back.
At least one other company, Deltek, took a similar path over a decade ago. It was eventually sold to private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $ 1.1 billion in 2012 before being sold again in 2016 for $ 2.8 billion.
