HP tops Dell bid for 3Par

Hewlett-Packard Company is bidding US$1.5 billion for data-storage provider 3Par Inc, just a week after rival Dell Inc agreed to acquire the company for US$1.13 billion.

HP and Dell have been looking to expand beyond personal computers over the past few years in a search for bigger profits.

In 3Par, they are bidding for a company that provides software for organising data on corporate servers

The company, which is based in Fremont, California, offers its products on a subscription basis over the Web, an approach known as "cloud computing".

HP, based in Palo Alto, California, said Monday it will pay US$24 per share for the company, a 33 per cent premium over Dell's bid of US$18 per share.

Shares of 3Par rose $6.66, or 37 per cent, to US$24.70 in premarket trading.

HP is the world's biggest computer maker, with Dell trailing at No 2. And it has gone further than Dell in stretching beyond the PC market.

PC sales made up less than a third of HP's annual revenue of US$116 billion during the most recent fiscal year, while they account for more than half of revenue at Dell.

With the acquisition of 3Par, HP would add to a data-storage business that makes up about 13 per cent of its revenue.

The software 3Par offers is designed to maximise available space on data-storage hardware - a cost-cutting step - by using a technique called "thin provisioning," by which extra capacity can be added as needed.

- AP