Seagate said on December 23 that it is acquiring UK firm Xyratex Technology Ltd for $374 million in cash. The deal priced the shares of Xyratex at $13.25 apiece. The transaction is expected to be completed in 2014 pending customary approvals, according to Infostor Magazine.

Xyratex is a company that specializes in hard disk drive (HDD) test devices used by manufacturing. The firm's website boasts that it is the biggest capital equipment supplier to HDD manufacturing arena. The company also makes storage systems for Big Data and high performance computing (HPC) environments, the report detailed.

In 2011, Seagate purchased the HDD business of Samsung in a deal valued at over #1.3 billion. Seagate president of Operations and Technology Dave Mosley said the technology of Xyratex is essential in lifting the hard drive capacities to higher levels. Mosley added that Seagate plans to integrate its equipment and technology with that of Xyratex to streamline their HDD supply and manufacturing chain, Infostor Magazine reported.