Pictures

Photo

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Photo

Best of Cannes

Style and scenes from the Cannes Film Festival.  Slideshow 

Photo

Ethiopia's salt trails

For centuries merchants have traveled to Ethiopia to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin.  Slideshow 

Sponsored Links

Interest in HP assets spikes after Dell news: source

By Poornima Gupta

Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:01pm EST

(Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co in recent days has received a large number of casual overtures exploring a purchase of some of its assets, but the company has no intention of selling any major units, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

While HP gets feelers from bankers, representatives from private equity and technology companies regularly, the inquiries have increased in the days since news emerged that rival Dell Inc was in discussions with private equity group Silver Lake about a potential buyout, the source said.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday cited unidentified people familiar with the matter as saying "some potential buyers" have expressed interest in HP's Autonomy and EDS units, without elaborating.

HP declined to comment.

HP has written down billions of dollars in the values of both Autonomy and EDS, which it acquired in past years. Even so, HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman has said Autonomy and EDS remained key technological assets for the company.

Autonomy is under a federal investigation after HP accused its former management of accounting improprieties.

HP did say in a recent regulatory filing that it plans to divest some businesses that "no longer help us meet our objectives," but those are expected to be non-core, small assets.

Shares in HP climbed 4.4 percent to $17.27 in afternoon trade after the Journal report.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Tech
Hot Stocks
Asian Markets
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
Slammy wrote:
My company made a corporate decision this year to cease buying all products from Dell given that their call centers are in India. Given India’s track record on human rights involving the of rape of women we are ceasing all business with companies who use their call centers or other services. The Dell rep, who was calling from India, was aghast when we told him our new policy. Hopefully other businesses will follow suit. Without such pressure we feel India will never make meaningful reform for protection of its daughters.

Jan 16, 2013 4:32pm EST  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »