Seagate Technology receives buyout offer

The world's largest hard drive maker Seagate Technology, saw its stock rise by 20.7 per cent yesterday after it said that it has received a buyout offer from an unnamed party.

Media reports have hinted at the possibility of the company mulling going private, for the second time in its history

The Scotts Valley, California-based company said that it is in discussions with the party from whom it received the indication of interest, and its board of directors is evaluating the indication of interest and other strategic alternatives.

The company, which is the world leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions, had gone private earlier after a consortium of private equity firms led by Silver Lake Partners and TPG, formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, took it private in 2000 in an $20-billion deal only to became a public company again in December 2002.

After having made a whopping profit on the deal, both the private equity firms were in early stage talks last month with Seagate about taking it private once again, but the talks did not result in a deal, reported Reuters citing a source familiar with the situation at the time.

Bloomberg identified TPG and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts as the potential acquirers, saying that they have made a preliminary approach to take over Seagate and may make an offer of $16 a share or $7.55 billion.