HP seals Autonomy deal

Hardware giant finally wins shareholder approval to take over UK software firm

Hardware giant HP has finally won shareholder approval for its proposed takeover of UK software firm Autonomy, marking the end of the $12bn (£7.8bn) deal.

HP announced plans to acquire the firm in August, but the proposal seemingly failed to capture the imagination of Autonomy shareholders, with just 41.6 per cent giving the deal their blessing.

As a result, HP was forced to extend the buyout deadline until 3 October to give the rest of the shareholders time to mull over the deal.

In a statement, HP has confirmed that the deal has won the backing of 213,421,299 Autonomy shareholders, allowing it to take control of the company.

As previously reported, Autonomy will be run as a separate business unit within HP, guided by the company's founder and chief executive, Mike Lynch.

Meg Whitman, chief executive of HP, said Autonomy's technology will allow HP customers to overcome the problems associated with exponential data growth.

"Autonomy significantly increases our capabilities to manage and extract meaning from that data to drive insight, foresight and better decision making," she said.

Lynch said the completion of the deal was a historic day for Autonomy and its employees. "We are at the dawn of a new era when it is the 'I' in IT that is changing, not just the 'T'," he explained.