The private equity giant Blackstone Group is weighing whether to make an offer for all or part of Dell as a Friday deadline looms, people briefed on the matter said Thursday.
But some people close to Blackstone are skeptical that any offer will materialize.
Rivals to the proposed $24 billion buyout of the computer maker by its founder, Michael S. Dell, and the private equity firm Silver Lake have until midnight Friday to submit their alternative bids, under a process being run by a special committee of the Dell board.
Among the companies that have taken a look at Dell’s books under that “go-shop process,†Blackstone is regarded as the likeliest to make an offer, the people briefed on the matter said.
The private equity firm, which has spent a surprising amount of time and effort examining Dell’s books, has the firepower to organize a rival bid.
And it has an important tie: Blackstone hired Dell’s chief in-house deal maker, David Johnson, who has previously worked at I.B.M., earlier this year. Mr. Johnson is seen as one of the primary advocates behind Blackstone’s interest, according to the people briefed on the process.
As of late Thursday, Blackstone was still considering its next move, these people said. A variety of options have been on the table, including making a bid for some or all of Dell.
The firm has talked to Southeastern Asset Management, a large shareholder in Dell, about the possibility of contributing its 8.4 percent stake toward a rival deal, the people briefed on the matter said. Southeastern has argued publicly and privately that it would favor a proposal that would allow all shareholders to continue being investors in Dell.
And Blackstone has sounded out potential leaders for Dell should the company’s founder decide to step down from an active managerial role.
The firm has asked Mark V. Hurd, Oracle’s president and the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, according to a person briefed on the matter, although he did not appear to be interested.
Hopes for a rival bid from Blackstone have buoyed Dell’s stock in recent weeks, with its price trading above the $13.65 a share that Mr. Dell and Silver Lake are offering.
Several shareholders, including some of Dell’s biggest outside investors, have proclaimed for more than a month that the current offer by Mr. Dell and Silver Lake is too low. Shareholders like Southeastern and the billionaire Carl C. Icahn have demanded that the Dell board consider alternatives, or risk having the bid defeated in a shareholder vote.
The emergence of an alternative, potentially higher bid could prod Mr. Dell and Silver Lake into sweetening their offer.
Yet there is also a good chance that no other suitor emerges. Others that have looked at Dell’s books, including Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, are not considered serious bidders, instead using the go-shop to examine the confidential financial information of a competitor.
If there is no rival bid, next week, Dell is expected to begin trying to persuade shareholders that the buyout offer on the table represents the highest price the company could fetch for its rapidly declining business.
Blackstone may also use other strategies. It spoke to General Electric’s giant finance arm, GE Capital, some time ago about potentially buying Dell’s financial services division, one of these people said. The division lends money to customers of the computer company. But it is unclear whether GE Capital, which has been selling assets as part of its recovery from the financial crisis, would be interested in pursuing a deal, this person said.
Blackstone has participated in big technology buyouts in the past, including the $17.5 billion deal for Freescale Semiconductor in 2006 and the $10.8 billion deal for SunGard Data Systems in 2005. Still, any move by Blackstone on Dell would be unusual. Private equity firms have rarely jumped another’s deals, a phenomenon that has drawn scrutiny recently in an antitrust lawsuit filed in Boston.
