Seagate agrees to acquire LaCie for at least $186M

Seagate said it plans to acquire a controlling stake in Paris-based storage making LaCie for at least $186 million.

Seagate, already one of the world’s largest hard drive makers, will buy the French maker of high-end storage equipment for consumers. Seagate will buy a 64.5 percent stake from LaCie’s founder, Philippe Spruch, for 4.05 euros per share, minus the cash and debt position of LaCie as the deal closes. Then Seagate will buy the rest of the company’s shares via a tender offer. The entire value of LaCie is expected to be about $186 million, including $65 million in cash.

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The deal will close in the third calendar quarter, subject to regulatory reviews. The price is a premium of 29 percent to the company’s average closing stock price over the last 30 days.

“We see it as an opportunity to get good software talent,” said Seagate vice president of marketing Scott Horn in an interview with VentureBeat.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Seagate is also adding new geographic coverage in the consumer market and adds to its product offering. LaCie’s products include mobile cloud offerings, high-end business storage, and Porsche-branded hard drives for consumers. LaCie has several hundred employees.