SCO finds a buyer at the last minute

Beleaguered software firm SCO appears to have found a buyer just as the company was about to be shut down by the receivers.

The company has forged a deal with London-based Gulf Capital Partners LLC, a group formed by Stephen Norris of Stephen Norris & Co. Capital Partners, to sell off its UNIX product line in entirety.

"We signed that deal just minutes before the court hearing, and walked in and handed it to them," Darl McBride, chief executive of SCO told the Salt Lake Tribune.

The remaining assets of SCO, principally the company’s mobile platform offerings, would be retained by SCO, with McBride remaining as chief executive. He said that the ongoing lawsuits over SCO’s claimed ownership to parts of UNIX would continue.

However, the sale still has to be agreed by the courts. Ever since SCO filed for bankruptcy the courts have had over how to dispose of the company’s assets. A hearing to discuss the buy-out has been set for July 16th.

SCO has made other attempts to sell off parts of its business since for bankruptcy protection in 2007. Other have fallen through, as indeed this one may, but McBride seems confident that the company has at last found a buyer.