Dell is nearing the potential sale of Quest Software and SonicWall, and a deal and/or annoucement could come as soon as this week, according to Reuters.
The pending Dell Software sale potentially involves Francisco Partners and Elliott Management Corp., Reuters reported. Take a closer look an perhaps Francisco Partners could merge SonicWall with WatchGuard, another member of its portfolio companies.
Rumors about Dell potentially selling Quest Software and SonicWall have circulated since late 2015. The rumors reignited about a week ago and heated up over the weekend, though "negotiations could still end unsuccessfully," the reports added.
Dell is striving to strengthen its balance sheet ahead of its $67 billion buyout of EMC Corp. The company recently sold its IT consulting and services business to NTT Data Corp. for about $3 billion, and EMC shareholders are set to vote on the sale to Dell on July 19.
Dell channel partners, meanwhile, have been holding their breath as the hardware giant works to shed some assets while gaining others.
Quest Software has a range of IT management software, though much of it involves classic software licensing rather than modern cloud services models. The SonicWall business, meanwhile, is very channel centric -- though partners have been rethinking loyalties amid the potential asset sale.
