Seagate No Longer Going Private, May Still Do so Later

As some may or may not know, Seagate has been trying to become a private company for some time, and it seems that, even though the idea is still being considered, those plans have now been mostly put on hold.

The well-known, world-class supplier of hard disk drives expressed its intention to turn into a private company around the middle of October, 2010.

Later, it was found that the storage solutions developer was not very appealing to private investors, even thougH rumors said a rival or another may take the deal.

The lawsuit filed by Rembradt IP may or may not have something to do with the low appeal of the company, though some may say its success at selling 500 million HDDs in two years should have compensated for that.

Now, the same outfit has issued a new press release to announce that it has given up on becoming private for now, because it was not satisfied with the offers it was given.

The company will also be repurchasing up to an additional $2 billion of its outstanding ordinary shares, depending on share price and corporate and regulatory requirements, among other things.

"We appreciate the interest shown by the private equity firms and our dialogues with them were extensive and thoughtful," said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman and CEO.

"However, management and the Board have chosen to cease discussions concerning a private equity-led leveraged buyout,” he added.

“Given the strong debt markets, improving business conditions and other financing options, Seagate has initiated a plan to further optimize its capital structure to maximize shareholder returns," Luczo went on to saying.

Seagate expects revenues of at least $2.7 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010 and a gross margin of at least 19.5%.

It also hopes to sell 170 million HDDs during the October-December period, since demand has supposedly improved and supply and demand seem relatively well balanced.