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Dell sells software assets to Francisco Partners, Elliott Management

The move comes as Dell works to finance its $67 billion acquisition of EMC.
Written by Stephanie Condon, Senior Writer

Dell is selling off most of its software division to the private equity firm Francisco Partners and hedge fund Elliott Management, the companies announced Monday.

The terms of the deal were not announced, but Reuters reports Dell sold the division for more than $2 billion.

The move comes as Dell works to finance its $67 billion acquisition of EMC. When Dell acquired the company in October, it took on a $59 billion debt load. Earlier this year, Dell sold Dell Services, its IT services business, to the Japanese telecom firm NTT for about $3.1 billion.

In the deal announced Monday, Dell is selling the IT company Quest Software and the security firm SonicWall, which have more than 180,000 customers. For the first quarter of 2016, Dell's software group had flat revenue of $334 million with operating income of $28 million.

Dell has in recent years attempted to reinvent itself as more than a PC maker. With the acquisition of EMC the company also gets VMware, a leader in data center automation software.

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