EMC slams concerns Dell cannot raise takeover cash

Joe Tucci claims 'significant penalties' are in place if contractual terms are not met

EMC has dismissed concerns that Dell will not be able to raise the vast sums of cash necessary to complete its takeover, branding some claims "not based on a lot of fact".

Dell is in the process of acquiring EMC for $67bn (£46.8bn) in a deal which is expected to close between May and October.

On an earnings call for its Q4 and full-year results, EMC's chief executive Joe Tucci fielded a number of questions about the Dell takeover and insisted that the financial structure of the plan is sound.

"This is a really big deal and there is a lot of noise in the system," he said. "There's lot of people [who] have a lot of opinions; a lot of them are not based on a lot of fact.

"We have a binding solid merger agreement in place. We are highly confident of the contractual terms we have in place [and] that we will meet those contractual terms. There are significant penalties in place both ways if this doesn't happen. The banks are fully committed and, again, what does that mean? It means that the banks have told us they can raise the money."

For the three months to 31 December, GAAP net profit at EMC fell 32 per cent to $771m on sales which were flat over the same period at $7bn. For the full year, GAAP net profits slumped 27 per cent to $2.2bn on revenue which crept up one per cent to $24.7bn.