Seagate to Acquire Controlling Interest in LaCie for $186 Million
More moving and shaking took place in the storage industry today, as Seagate and LaCie announced an exclusive agreement whereby the former will acquire a controlling interest in the latter. Specifically, Seagate plans to purchase from Philippe Spruch, LaCie's chairman and CEO, and his affiliate, all of their shares, giving Seagate a 64.5 percent stake in LaCie.
Without any price supplements or fuzzy math of any kind, the deal is worth $186 million in total equity value. If the deal goes through, Seagate would be paying a 29 percent premium to LaCie's average closing stock price in the transaction.
"Seagate has a strong commitment to the growing consumer storage market and bringing the most dynamic products to market. LaCie has built an exceptional consumer brand by delivering exciting and innovative high-end products for many years. This transaction would bring a highly complementary set of capabilities to Seagate, significantly expand our consumer product offerings, add a premium-branded direct-attached storage line, strengthen our network-attached storage business line and enhance our capabilities in software development," said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman, president and CEO.
As part of the deal, Spruch would not only pocket a ton of cash for selling his stock, but he would also join Seagate and lead the company's consumer storage products organization.
Without any price supplements or fuzzy math of any kind, the deal is worth $186 million in total equity value. If the deal goes through, Seagate would be paying a 29 percent premium to LaCie's average closing stock price in the transaction.
"Seagate has a strong commitment to the growing consumer storage market and bringing the most dynamic products to market. LaCie has built an exceptional consumer brand by delivering exciting and innovative high-end products for many years. This transaction would bring a highly complementary set of capabilities to Seagate, significantly expand our consumer product offerings, add a premium-branded direct-attached storage line, strengthen our network-attached storage business line and enhance our capabilities in software development," said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman, president and CEO.
As part of the deal, Spruch would not only pocket a ton of cash for selling his stock, but he would also join Seagate and lead the company's consumer storage products organization.
