HP and 3PAR Inc. have finally entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase 3PAR through a cash tender offer of $33 per share in cash, or an enterprise value of $2.35 billion.

The agreement ends the bidding war that has escalated last week, as both HP and Dell were trying to expand into new business areas.

3PAR is a leading global provider of storage solutions with advanced data management features for multi-tenant cloud-computing environments.

Combining 3PAR's utility storage products with HP's existing storage solutions will strengthen HP's storage, server and networking portfolio. 3PAR will accelerate HP's highly Converged Infrastructure strategy by driving growth in the fast-growing virtual data center and cloud computing markets.

"HP and 3PAR is a winning combination that will accelerate HP's Converged Infrastructure strategy and bolster our ability to provide customers with the industry's highest levels of performance, efficiency and reliability," said Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking, HP. "We intend to invest in 3PAR's technology to create long-term value for our stakeholders."

"As part of HP, 3PAR's agile, efficient storage solutions will truly thrive, particularly given HP's ability to accelerate investment in our products and reach new customers around the world," said David Scott, president and chief executive officer, 3PAR. "3PAR has built a reputation for delivering enterprises and cloud computing service providers the ability to do more with less. HP's global reach, strong routes to market and our shared culture of innovation will allow even more organizations to experience the transformative value of 3PAR's technology."

3PAR also announced that it has terminated its merger agreement with Dell Inc. and paid Dell the $72 million termination fee required to be paid to Dell as a condition to terminating the merger agreement.

HP and 3PAR Inc came into the agreement after Dell's announcement that it would not increase its most recent proposal to acquire 3PAR, since ell's final offer to acquire 3PAR was not accepted by 3PAR's board of directors.