Monday, March 7, 2011

Hitachi Global Storage Goes To Western Digital

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the data storage arm of Hitachi Ltd., said today that it is being acquired by fellow disk drive maker Western Digital, in a deal worth $4.3 billion in cash and stock. Hitachi and WD said that WD will pay $3.5 billion in cash, plus 25 million shares of WD common stock worth $750M, for Hitachi Global Storage. WD was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and O'Melveny & Myers LLP; Hitachi was advised by Goldman Sachs & Co., Morrison Foerster LLP, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates. Hitachi has major operations in Silicon Valley.