Dell to buy Perot

Dell Inc. on Monday said it had agreed to buy information technology services company Perot Systems Corporation for about $3.9 billion as it looks to expand beyond the personal computer business. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell said it would offer $30 per share in cash for Perot, which is based in Plano, Texas. That represents a 68 percent premium over Perot's closing share price on Friday. Dell said Perot, founded by former presidential candidate Ross Perot, will expand the company's IT services offerings for business and the widen the pool of potential customers for its computers.
It expects the deal to close in the November-January quarter and start boosting its earnings beginning in fiscal 2012. Analysts have been expecting acquisitions from Dell, which hired IBM Corporation's former mergers and acquisitions chief earlier this year and has raised almost $1 billion by selling debt securities since March.