Dell Computer Inc shareholders on Tuesday approved a controversial deal to allow its founder to take the company private, it was announced on Thursday.
A preliminary vote count showed that the majority of shareholders approved a plan for Michael Dell, in partnership with global technology investment firm Silver Lake Partners, to acquire the company.
Shareholders would receive a total of $ 13.88 per share, valuing the entire transaction at $ 24.9 billion.
“I am pleased with this outcome and am energized to continue building Dell into the industry’s leading provider of scalable, end-to-end technology solutions,” said Michael Dell, currently Chairman and Chief Executive of the company.
“As a private enterprise, with a strong private equity partner, we’ll serve our customers with a single-minded purpose and drive the innovations that will help them achieve their goals,” he added.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter in the company’s 2014 fiscal year.
Thursday’s vote brought an end to more than a year of contentious deliberations regarding the sale. During that time, the vote had been postponed three times when it looked certain that the proposal would fail.
Michael Dell eventually secured victory after sweetening the offer in return for advantageous changes to the voting rules, forcing his main opponent, investor Carl Icahn, to concede defeat earlier this week.
The takeover group has not announced details of its plans for the company, which Michael Dell formed in his dormitory room as a student in 1980. The company was at one time the largest computer manufacturer in the world, but now faces severe challenges, along with the rest of the PC industry, as consumers increasingly turn to tablets and smartphones.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Michael Dell’s plan to turn Dell into a business solutions company revolve around three main areas.
The company plans to offer robust security systems to enable companies to retain secure control of their networks. It also wants to offer tools to help companies deal with the avalanche of data now available to them. Thirdly it wants to offer bundles of hardware and software that companies can easily deploy.