Posted on Monday, September 20 2010 @ 19:31 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
IBM announced it plans to acquire analytics company Netezza for $27 a share, or roughly $1.7 billion. Bloomberg
believes the move may spark rival bids, just like last month's spar between HP and Dell.
Netezza, whose clients include NYSE Euronext and Estee Lauder Cos., integrates hardware with programs that store and analyze data. It’s one of the few data-warehousing companies that’s gained customers, making it an attractive buy for large technology corporations looking to increase sales, said Keith Bachman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
“Larger companies are finding it harder to grow so when they see an interesting technology, they’re willing to pay up for it,” said New York-based Bachman, who rates IBM “outperform.” Possible counter-bidders could include Hewlett- Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc., he said.
