Monday, September 9, 2013

Western Digital Buys Virident For $685M

Irvine-based Western Digital is making a big acquisition this morning, saying that it is paying approximately $685M in cash to acquire flash storage maker Virident. Western Digital said that server side flash storage maker Virident will be acquired by its subsidiary, HGST. Virident was a developer of server side, PCIe flash solid state disk drives, and was venture backed by Artiman Ventures, Cisco Corp., Globespan Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Mitsui & Co, Seagate, Sequoia Capital, Spansion, and others. WD said it was advised by RBC Capital Markets in the deal, with Virident advised by BofA Merrill Lynch. WD said the deal is worth $645 million in enterprise value, net of Virident's estimated cash balance at closing.