Participants in Dell Inc.'s 401(k) plan who hold Dell stock will receive a modest gain from the Round Rock, Texas, company's decision to go private; but the impact on the overall 401(k) will be slight because Dell stock represents only about 4% of the total plan assets.
Based on the latest available data — the year ended Dec. 31, 2011 — participants in the Dell 401(k) owned $122.7 million worth of Dell stock out of total plan assets of $3.06 billion in 2011, according to an 11-K statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. (The Dell plan now has about $3.4 billion in assets.)
The 11-K document shows that Dell plan participants are more heavily invested in three broad categories — mutual funds (about 50% of plan assets), separately managed funds (32%) and collective trusts (14%).
The buyout offer is $13.65 cash for each share of Dell stock. The stock closed at $13.27 on Monday, the day before Dell announced it would go private. The stock closed at $13.52 on Wednesday.
Dell has a market capitalization of about $23.37 billion.
David Frink, a company spokesman, declined to comment on what will happen to 401(k) participants' holdings in Dell stock when — or if — the deal is consummated, pending a shareholder vote. “Nothing will change until the transaction closes,” said Mr. Frink, adding that details about the deal will be contained in a proxy and other documents to be filed with the SEC.
The Dell deal is a partnership between Michael Dell, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, and the technology private equity firm Silver Lake.
