SCO finds a buyer at the last minute

SCO will sell off its entire Unix product line

Beleaguered software firm SCO appears to have found a buyer just as the company was about to be shut down by the receivers.

The firm has forged a deal with London-based Gulf Capital Partners LLC, a group formed by Stephen Norris of Stephen Norris & Co Capital Partners, to sell off its entire Unix product line.

"We signed that deal just minutes before the court hearing, and walked in and handed it to them," Darl McBride, chief executive of SCO, told the Salt Lake Tribune.

The company's remaining assets, principally its mobile platform offerings, will be retained by SCO, and McBride will remain as chief executive. He said that the ongoing lawsuits over SCO's claimed ownership of parts of Unix would continue.

However, the sale still has to be agreed by the courts. Ever since SCO filed for bankruptcy protection, the courts have had final say over how to dispose of the company's assets. A hearing to discuss the buy-out has been set for 16 July.

SCO has made other attempts to sell off parts of its business since filing for bankruptcy protection in 2007. The plans have fallen through, as indeed this one may, but McBride seems confident that the company has at last found a buyer.