Bright Side of News is reporting that the rumoured Seagate-OCZ deal will finalize on July 30, in time for Seagate’s earnings call.
Theo Valich, BSN*’s editor-in-chief, reports that the “deal is done”, citing sources close to the matter.
BSN* says this deal could reach the $1 billion mark, if it clears through the leviathan of regulatory approval.
“According to our sources, the negotiations heated up in April 2012, with the final deal and the cancelation of OCZ’s next-week roadshow lead to only logic conclusion by our sources and our own investigation,” Mr. Valich writes. “We expect a mix of cash (Seagate has over $700 million in free cash flow) and stock, with the overall value of the deal confirming the rumors on the street, exceeding $1 billion in value. One of our reliable sources stated that the value of deal should be to the tune of $1.14 billion.”
As mentioned in previous coverage on Hardware Canucks of the potential acquisition, Seagate would be able to significantly bolster its offerings in the consumer, enthusiast, and enterprise SSD markets by taking over OCZ. Seagate has yet to make any serious ventures into the SSD markets, with the exception of its hybrid hard disk-SSD drives.
In Reuters’ coverage of the possible acquisition, analyst Gary Mobley from Benchmark Capital has gone on record stating that this deal is likely.
“It is plausible for Seagate or Micron to buy an SSD company,” Mr. Mobley told Reuters. “Seagate has been late to address the flash storage market and needs to hedge its aging HDD business. Micron would benefit from owning OCZ by selling more NAND flash.”
Seagate’s shares today fell 5 cents to close at $30.01, while OCZ’s jumped 30%, or $1.04, to close at $7.08.