Here we go: Hard drive maker Seagate Technology
Both Seagate and chief rival Western Digital
Private equity firms are masters of sniffing out undervalued assets and flipping them over a couple of years for a sweet profit. With acquisition talk building, you could see public companies get interested as well. Other potential buyers include serial buyout bingers Hewlett-Packard
However, there are parts of a Seagate acquisition that wouldn't make sense for this list of serial acquirers. IBM exited the hard drive market years ago by selling that operation to Hitachi. Cisco would be better served by a builder of storage systems such as NetApp
With official word from Seagate's management, this newest deal-making process sits a cut above rumors, but is still less than signing on the dotted line. You can still buy Seagate and benefit from the final buyout premium, if it happens. Conversely, current shareholders skeptical of a complete deal can sell and enjoy the preliminary pop.
How are you playing Seagate's announcement? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.