May 14, 2008
On May 13, it was announced that Willkie client Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) have signed a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase EDS at a price of $25.00 per share, or an enterprise value of approximately $13.9 billion. The acquisition is anticipated to close in the second half of 2008, pending regulatory and EDS shareholders’ approval.
EDS, based in Plano, Texas, founded the information technology outsourcing industry more than 45 years ago. Today, EDS is a leading global technology services company delivering a broad portfolio of IT and business process outsourcing to clients in nearly every major industry and to governments around the world. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, Palo Alto-based HP is among the world’s largest IT companies. The company’s revenue totaled $107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters ending January 31, 2008. The acquisition will create the second-largest IT services company in the world.
The transaction was handled by a multidisciplinary Willkie team, including partners Thomas Cerabino, Serge Benchetrit, Frank Daniele, Thomas Henry and Christopher Peters; and associates Russell Leaf, Katie Calabrese, Rebecca Gutner, Jeremy Hendon, Kevin Klesh, Thomas O’Grady, Jonathan Reich, Danielle Scalzo, Mal Serure and Leslie Spencer.
