Courtesy of Benzinga.
TechCrunch said Wednesday that the board of cloud computing services provider Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) may be considering taking the company private, according to multiple sources.
Shares of Rackspace have jumped as much as nine percent in the pre-market session.
According to TechCrunch, Rackspace has been in negotiations with a private equity firm to secure the capital needed for the deal and may make an announcement as soon as this week.
As the company refuses to comment on speculation, TechCrunch has been unable to confirm the rumors.
According to the source, the option of taking the company private has "gained sufficient traction" among the company's board. This claim is at least some what supported by the 8-K, which noted that Morgan Stanley, who was hired to evaluate third party bids, has been advising the board on "other alternatives which could advance Rackspace's long-term strategy."
The company also noted in the 8-K that it will not discuss or disclose any developments in the process until the board has approved a transaction or partnership.
Rackspace has previously received acquisition bids from a number of company's including Hewlett-Packard and International Business Machines. The offer of up to $43 per share from Hewlett-Packard would value Rackspace at over $6 billion.
Posted-In: techcrunchNews Rumors M&A
