Owners of a third of 3PAR back HP bid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Data storage provider 3PAR Inc (PAR.N) said on Friday that shareholders owning about a third of its shares have agreed to accept Hewlett-Packard Co's(HPQ.N) proposal to buy the company for $2.4 billion.

HP won a bidding war for 3PAR as Dell Inc (DELL.O) bowed out on Thursday when HP raised its cash offer by $3 to $33 per share to trump Dell's $32-a-share offer.

3PAR had traded mostly around $10 this year, until Dell announced a $18 per share bid in mid-August.

Its shares were down 3 cents at $32.85 in premarket trade after closing at $33.88 on New York Stock Exchange Thursday.

The storage company competes with bigger rival EMC Corp (EMC.N) in a key part of "cloud computing" -- an increasingly popular technology that lets computer users access data and software over the Internet, allowing companies to cut costs.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Gerald E. McCormick)