Dell Inc. will buy data storage company EMC Corp. in a deal valued at about $67 billion, the largest on record in the technology sector.

The offer is $33.15 per share in cash and special stock, the companies said in a joint statement yesterday.

EMC shares were up 3.9 per cent at $29.08 in pre-market trading.

The deal will help the world’s number-three PC maker tap into the faster-growing and lucrative market for managing and storing data for businesses amid waning demand for personal computers globally.

Dell said it would pay $24.05 per share in cash and the rest in a special stock that tracks the value of a portion of EMC’s economic interest in VMware Inc., the virtualisation software company majority-owned by EMC.

The combination of Dell and EMC creates an enterprise solutions powerhouse

“The combination of Dell and EMC creates an enterprise solutions powerhouse,” said Michael Dell, who will lead the combined company as chairman and chief executive.

EMC is also planning to seek out other suitors, people familiar with the matter said.

EMC’s board has approved the merger agreement and intends to recommend that the company’s stockholders approve the deal.

The deal will be financed through a combination of new equity from Michael Dell, MSD Partners, Silver Lake and Singapore state-owned investor Temasek Holdings as well as the issuance of the tracking stock, new debt and cash on hand.

VMware will remain an independent, publicly traded company. VMware shares were unchanged at $78.65.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.