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EMC shareholders approve $67bn Dell takeover

EMC shareholders can't wait to cash in their chips

Dell and EMC power plants
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The proposed acquisition of storage hardware vendor EMC by privately owned PC company Dell looks to be going ahead after EMC shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the $67bn deal.

This approval is one of the final hurdles that Dell needs to overcome after acquiring a regulatory green light for the acquisition from the EU at the end of February. 

The early tallies from voting at the special meeting of shareholders indicated that the deal will be waived through with little opposition. The final results will be filed with US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission later this week.

EMC chief executive Joe Tucci said that the deal between the two companies will "create a powerhouse in the technology industry".

However, Dell has struggled to put together the funds to finance the deal, and the sale of a number of assets has been slow despite the buoyant market for M&A deals over the past few years.

It was reported in June that Dell was close to the sale of some of its software assets, including the SonicWALL firewall, to a consortium of private equity investors.

The New York Post said in February that Dell was having a tough time raising the $50bn or so in finance to complete the deal, and is also on the hook for a break-up fee of around $4bn if it is unable to do so.

Much of EMC's value, meanwhile, is tied up in the firm's controlling stake in virtualisation software provider VMware, which was founded by Diane Greene and is estimated to be worth $25bn to $26bn.

Dell founder Michael Dell took the PC maker private in 2013 in a $24bn deal, part-financed by private equity.

The aim was to take the company away from the public glare and scrutiny brought on by quarterly financial reporting schedules. However, Dell has been as affected by the moribund market for laptops and PCs as any other company.

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