Attachmate finally ties up Novell deal

Attachmate has completed its $2.2bn acquisition of Novell following months of legal wrangling since the deal was tabled in November 2010.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Attachmate will divide Novell into two smaller units which will operate under the Suse and Novell names.

Attachmate said when the deal was first announced that it would maintain and strengthen the Suse and Novell brands, but talk soon turned to the planned sale of Novell's open source patents.

A group of four larger companies, led by Microsoft, announced a deal to purchase Novell patents by way of a holding company.

Attachmate promised to maintain its commitment to Novell, and chief executive Jeff Hawn attempted to ease any customer anxiety in an open letter vowing support for Unix.

"Attachmate is committed to delivering quality products, providing exceptional customer service, and being easy to do business with," he wrote.

"We are excited about the opportunity to make these same commitments to Novell customers after closing."

The Attachmate-Novell deal was subject to intense scrutiny by anti-trust officials, but an agreement was eventually struck which granted Microsoft licences to Novell patents, and allowed the other parties to satisfy their objectives.