Seagate Purchases Controlling Interest in LaCie

On Thursday Seagate Technology announced a deal to purchase a controlling interest in storage device manufacturer LaCie.

Seagate, along with Philippe Spruch, LaCie's chairman and chief executive, and his affiliate, have signed a share purchase agreement to buy all the shares of Spurch and his affiliate, representing 64.5-percent of the company's outstanding shares. The deal's provisional price was €4.05 a share, but may be adjusted downwards depending on the cash and debt position of LaCie at closing.

"As previously announced, Ricol Lasteyrie & Associés have been appointed as independent expert by the Board of Directors of LaCie on June 23, 2012," Seagate said on Thursday. "The transaction has already received clearance from the US Antitrust Authorities but remains subject to regulatory approval in France (approval of foreign investments by the Ministry of Finance) and Germany (antitrust filing) and to other customary closing conditions."

Seagate said that following the acquisition of the control of LaCie, the company will file an all-cash simplified tender offer on the remaining LaCie shares at a price of €4.05. This price shall be increased by 3-percent in the event that a squeeze-out procedure is implemented (as a result of the acquisition of 95-percent of the shares and voting rights), resulting in a maximum potential price per LaCie share of €4.17.

Seagate made its intentions known late last month, reporting that it was seeking to purchase a controlling stake -- 64.5-percent -- in consumer rival LaCie. Once acquired, LaCie Chief Executive Philippe Spruch would lead Seagate's consumer storage products organization. Reporting to him would be Patrick Connolly, who currently serves as vice president and general manager of Seagate’s retail group, as well as Pierre van der Elst, who currently serves as deputy general manager of LaCie.

"The transaction would combine two highly complementary product and technology portfolios, adding LaCie’s line of premium branded consumer storage solutions, network-attached storage solutions and software offerings to Seagate’s array of mainstream consumer storage products," the company said last month. "The combination would accelerate Seagate’s growth strategy in the expanding consumer storage market, particularly in Europe and Japan, and add strong engineering and software development capabilities, as well as relationships with several key retailers."