T. Rowe Price Group mutual fund investors stand to win big on IBM Corp.'s $34 billion bid to buy cloud software giant Red Hat Inc.
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty called the deal announced Monday "a game-changer." Big Blue is looking to gain an on edge on its competitors including Amazon, Google and Microsoft. IBM will pay $190 per share in cash for Raleigh, North Carolina-based Red Hat, in a deal expected to close in the latter half of 2019.
Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price is the second-largest shareholder of Red Hat. The money manager's mutual funds collectively own more than 18 million shares of Red Hat as of June 30. The acquisition values T. Rowe Price's stake at more than $3.4 billion.
At least 10 of T. Rowe Price's mutual funds own Red Hat shares.