Novell Lands $2.2 Billion Takeover

Enterprise software maker Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) inked a $2.2 billion deal on Monday to be acquired by a consortium called Attachmate Corp.

The $6.10-a-share purchase price places a 9.3% premium on the Friday share price of Waltham, Mass.-based Novell.

It also represents a 28% premium on Novell’s closing price in the last trading day prior to a rejected takeover offer from Elliott Associates in March. As part of the new deal, Elliott Management Corporation, one of Novell’s largest shareholders, will become an equity shareholder in Attachmate.

Novell also reached a deal to sell certain intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings, a consortium of tech companies organized by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), for $450 million in cash.

“We are pleased that these transactions appropriately recognize the value of Novell's relationships, technology and solutions, while providing our stockholders with an attractive cash premium for their investment,” Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian said in a statement.

The Attachmate deal hands control of Novell over an investment group led by Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo.  The companies said they expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2011.

“Novell has an established record of innovation, impressive technology and brand assets, and a leading ecosystem of partnerships and talented employees,” Attachmate CEO Jeff Hawn said in a statement. “The addition of Novell to our Attachmate and NetIQ businesses will enhance the spectrum of solutions we can offer to customers.”

Novell has four business segments: open platform solutions, systems and resource management, workgroup and identity and security management. Earlier this year Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) acquired security software maker McAfee (NYSE:MFE) for $7.68 billion.

Shares of Novell jumped 6.45% to $5.95 on Monday. The stock has soared more than 36% year-to-date.