Firing the latest salvo in a bidding brawl, data storage company EMC Corp. boosted its offer for Data Domain which has already accepted a lower bid from NetApp Inc.
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EMC’s new offer of $33.50 a share in cash, announced Monday, is $3.50 per share above its previous offer and values Data Domain Inc. at $2.1 billion.
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Santa Clara, Calif.-based Data Domain has already accepted a sweetened bid of $30 a share in cash and stock from NetApp, which said Monday its board would examine in options.
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Data Domain makes products that cut down on the amount of storage that customers need to buy from storage companies like EMC and NetApp.
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NetApp, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., originally offered to buy Data Domain on May 20 for $25 a share in cash and stock, or $1.5 billion.
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EMC then offered to pay $30 per share, or $1.9 billion, in an all-cash deal; NetApp matched that price in a cash-and-stock offer and Data Domain agreed to NetApp’s new bid.
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EMC’s latest offer comes on the same day NetApp said it received clearance from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the acquisition. The company also has cleared Federal Trade Commission hurdles.
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In announcing its revised bid, Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC said the FTC had granted early clearance for the deal.
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In response to EMC’s new offer, NetApp Chief Executive Dan Warmenhoven said in a statement that his company’s board will carefully weigh its options, keeping in mind both its fiduciary duty to its stockholders and its disciplined acquisition strategy.
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Data Domain shares advanced 85 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at $34.06, while EMC shares rose 11 cents to $12.89. Shares of NetApp fell 11 cents to end at $18.85.