It has been around 18 months since Michael Dell teamed up with Silver Lake Partners to take Dell Inc. private for $24.9 billion. Now he’s apparently thinking about parts of the business that could be spun out or combined, by following EMC Corp.’s (EMC) “federation” business model strategy.
Silver Lake managing partner Egon Durban said Tuesday that the company is thinking about spinning out or combining some of its high-growth assets, during an interview at Fortune Brainstorm Tech.
“I think what [EMC CEO Joe] Tucci has done with VMWare is a good example of that, where you can take something that people don’t fully understand, buried in the portfolio, and unlock it while still having a partnership with the mothership,” said Durban, who sits on the Dell board of directors.
Durban said that the company was not “committed at this stage” to doing any spin-outs or combinations, but did identify two potential Dell business units that could get the “federation” treatment: SecureWorks, a cybersecurity business acquired in 2011 for $612 million, and Boomi, a cloud integration software platform acquired in 2010 for an undisclosed amount.
Durban also said that Silver Lake’s equity in Dell has appreciated since the buyout closed, and that the company’s debt load has been reduced. At the same time, however, acknowledged that this particular year has been “challenging,” in part due to the Microsoft Windows cycle.
Below is the full video of Durban’s interview at Fortune Brainstorm Tech. The Dell section begins at the 5:20 mark:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXPipr3pZXs]