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Dell hits snag in bid to raise $45B to finance EMC deal

Dell is off to a rocky start in its bid to raise $45 billion for the biggest tech deal in history.

The Round Rock, Texas-based computer giant was expected Wednesday to price the first $10 billion chunk of debt it needs to finance the $67 billion buyout of data storage company EMC.

But the JPMorgan-led group of banks working on the debt deal will need another 10 days to get it done because tighter credit markets are making the loans harder to sell, said a source.

Meanwhile, the steep downturn in technology stocks is also taking its toll. Dell is trying to sell its Perot Systems business for up to $5 billion to lighten its EMC debtload.

French tech company Atos — which was seen as the front-runner to acquire Perot — dropped out of the auction in the last week, following a sharp drop in its stock price, a source said.

With the loss of Atos, there are two suitors for Perot. India’s Tata and Japan’s NTT Data are reportedly in the auction. Dell is still hoping to announce the Perot sale in a few weeks, the source said.

Investors are increasingly jittery about the EMC deal. Dell execs keep insisting the purchase will close by October — despite concerns about the sheer debt, the complexity of the transaction and getting regulatory approval.

“The EMC transaction is on schedule under the original timetable and the original terms,” a Dell spokesman told The Post.

If Dell can’t complete the deal, the closely held company is on the hook for a $4 billion breakup fee. Founder and CEO Michael Dell, along with a group of private equity investors, took the company private in 2013 after battling shareholders.

The deal calls for EMC shareholders to get $24.05 per share in cash, plus a VMware tracking stock that will fluctuate with that company’s share price.

When they announced the deal, the total value per EMC share was $33.15, but with the sharp drop in tech stocks, that’s no longer the case.

EMC shares were down 1.3 percent, at $24.22, in Thursday afternoon trading.