Shares of VMware are booming after Dell Technologies said Monday that it’s returning to the public markets.
The data center software giant’s shares were up nearly 10% to $161.17 in midday trading, indicating that investors were pleased with Dell’s decision to go public since going private nearly five years ago.
Dell inherited an 80% controlling stake in VMware when it bought data center technology conglomerate EMC in 2016.
Although Dell plans to trade again on Wall Street, it won’t be doing so via a traditional initial public offering, as Coins2Day’s Aaron Pressman explains. As part of Dell’s acquisition of EMC, Dell created so-called tracking stock that signified its controlling stake in VMware (VMW).
“Now Dell is proposing to buy out owners of the tracking stock with a combination of cash and a newly issued “C” class of stock in Dell itself,” Pressman writes. “That new stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange, making Dell again a public company.”
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Dell Technologies said in February via a regulatory filing that it was either exploring going public again or was planning a possible “business combination” with VMware.