Dell is nearing a deal to sell its IT services business unit to the Japanese telecom giant NTT for about $3.5 billion.

#NTT executives are expected to formalize their offer in a meeting with #Dell CEO @MichaelDell in New York on Wednesday. If successful, the deal would close a process that began in December when privately held Dell set out to sell its services unit — made up primarily of the company formerly known as #PerotSystems, which Dell acquired in 2009 for $3.9 billion.

Dell is in the process of acquiring #EMC, the data storage equipment company, in a deal that when first announced in October was worth about $67 billion. Dell has proposed to pay for the deal by taking on more than $50 billion in debt.

The sale of the services unit is considered part of an effort to raise cash that will ultimately help pay that debt down. Other assets, including some software operations like #Quest and #SonicWall, are said to be still in play. Dell hopes to raise as much as $10 billion from asset sales.

http://recode.net/2016/03/08/japans-ntt-is-close-to-buying-dell-services-for-about-3-5-billion/