SunGard Outbids HP For Comdisco Unit

SunGard Data Systems Inc. outbid Hewlett-Packard on Friday to buy Comdisco Inc.'s availability-services unit. Comdisco, a provider of business-continuity and disaster-recovery services that earlier this year filed for bankruptcy protection, has accepted SunGard's offer to buy the unit for $825 million, besting HP's July offer of $610 million.

Nearly three-quarters of SunGard's $1.7 billion business is providing investment-support systems that process transactions, supply calculations, and track assets for the financial-services industry. The company also provides data-co-location and disaster-recovery services.

Comdisco's availability-services unit has more than 1,300 employees and generated about $440 million in revenue during Comdisco's fiscal year 2000. This apparently was not enough to sustain the company as a whole. Comdisco in July filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. SunGard's bid, still pending bankruptcy court approval, would include the assets of Comdisco availability-services operations in the United States and the stock of its subsidiaries in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.