Although talks between the two companies stepped up in the past five months, the deal can trace its origins to Dell`s buyout more than two years ago.
Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan, played a role, along with tech investor Silver Lake, sovereign wealth fund Temasek, and Michael Dell.
And, like with many company sales these days, there was an activist investor in the background.
The record-setting deal can be traced back to early 2013 when Michael Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake took Dell private for about $24 billion.
That`s when founder Michael Dell was able to start transforming his company from a PC-only company to a broader tech firm, without the pressure of meeting quarterly goals.
At EMC, in contrast, the pressure was ratcheting up.
Activist investment firm Elliot Management bought in to EMC in July 2014 and started pushing the company to boost its stock price.
That led EMC to begin searching for alternatives like a partnership, according to people familiar with the matter, and in time those discussions turned to possible business combinations.
The timing for Dell and EMC was "perfect," according to one person familiar with the deal.
Dell was in better shape financially following its buyout and Michael Dell was looking for his next step — right when EMC was looking at making a change.
In spring 2015, JPMorgan got involved as an adviser to Dell, according to people familiar with the matter.
Dimon met with Michael Dell and Silver Lake Managing Director Egon Durban, and the Dell board started looking seriously at a deal.
The biggest challenge to getting a deal agreed was the huge financing package required to make the deal happen.
The deal will be funded by Michael Dell, his investment vehicle MSD Partners, the private-equity firm Silver Lake, and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek.
That, and somewhere between $40 billion and $50 billion in debt.
JPMorgan, the lead financial adviser to Dell, spent much of the summer assuring people that it was doable, according to people familiar with the situation.
Morgan Stanley was the lead adviser to EMC.
In early September, Dimon met with EMC`s board to assure directors that the financing was achievable.
Then, in the six weeks that followed, a handful of other banks came on board and committed financing. Credit Suisse stepped up, a fact reflected by their role as global financing coordinators along with JPMorgan.
A long list of banks also committed to the financing, including Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and RBC.
It amounts to one of the largest financing commitments for a technology transaction in history.
And it`s big news for Wall Street. It could mean up to $700 million in fees for the investment banks involved.
The deal is expected to close between May and October 2016.
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