Counter offer expected from Dell in 3Par bidding war

Dell rumoured to be on verge of outbidding HP in wrangle to buy storage vendor

Reports claim Dell is planning a counter offer for 3PAR

Dell is expected to announce a counter offer to buy storage vendor 3Par, after its earlier bid for the company was bettered by HP.

A bidding war between the hardware vendor’s for 3Par's assets broke out earlier this week when Dell’s offer to buy out the firm for $1.15bn (£745m) was trumped by HP's bid of $1.6bn.

According to a report on news site Reuters, Dell is on the verge of launching a competitive counter offer.

In 3Par’s latest Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, issued on Tuesday, the vendor reveals that Dell has until today to amend its earlier bid, which had been unanimously accepted by directors.

The filing read: “At this time, the board of directors of 3Par has not made a determination that HP's unsolicited acquisition proposal is a superior proposal or taken any other actions with respect to HP's acquisition proposal.

“The board of directors of 3Par continues to unanimously recommend that 3Par's stockholders accept the offer by Dell and tender their shares pursuant to [its] offer.”