Dell Considering Divestitures Ahead of EMC Acquisition

Reuters is reporting that Dell is potentially putting some of its assets on the auction block in an attempt to firm up its balance sheet ahead of its $67B acquisition of data storage company EMC which is expected to close by October 2016.  The two businesses being considered for divestiture includes Dell's Quest Software which helps IT management, and SonicWall which provides email encryption and data security.  Goldman Sachs has been advising Dell on the potential divestitures which could fetch around $2B for each business.  The three PE firms that are considering bids include KKR, Thoma Bravo, and Vista Equity Partners.  Interestingly, Thoma Bravo took SonicWall private for $717M in 2010 and sold it to Dell just a couple of years later.   

In addition to these two businesses, Dell is also working with Citigroup on the potential sale of Perot Systems which Dell acquired back in 2009.  Perot could be valued between $5B and $6B.