VMware Aims to Buy Pivotal, Negotiates Share Exchange Ratio With Dell

VMware (NYSE: VMW) is in talks to acquire all of Pivotal Software‘s (NYSE: PVTL) outstanding Class A common shares for $15 per share in cash.

San Francisco-based Pivotal said Wednesday its and VMware’s controlling stockholder, Dell Technologies, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a “Schedule 13D/A” to report ongoing discussions around a potential combination.

CNBC reported the $15-a-share offer price reflects a premium of 80.7 percent over the Wednesday closing stock price of Pivotal.

As of May 3, Dell owned 81 percent of outstanding common stock in VMware and 97 percent of the total voting power of the latter’s outstanding stock, according to CNBC.

An SEC regulatory filing states VMware asked its parent company to exchange Pivotal’s class B common stock for class A shares of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based software vendor and has begun negotiations on the exchange ratio.

Pivotal, which spun out of EMC and VMware in 2012, raised $555M during its initial public offering in May of last year.

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