Elliott Associates, the hedge fund that’s seeking to acquire Novell and SUSE Linux, is denying a report that it plans to break up Novell and sell off the pieces. Hmmm… But I still wonder: Will Novell and Elliott Associates reach a buyout agreement in time for Novell BrainShare? Here's some speculation.

Elliott Associates has filed with the SEC its own required filing, a 13D/A with all the financing documents behind the Novell acquisition by Attachmate. It says it amends a February 12, 2010 13D, which shows Elliott through its various tentacles beginning to buy Novell stock on the open market in January. First, who are all the Elliott entities?

The hedge fund Elliott Associates said Tuesday afternoon that it had made an offer to buy Novell in a deal that valued the business software company at about $2 billion. Elliott said it would pay $5.75 a share in cash for Novell, a price that is 21 percent higher than Novell's closing stock price on Tuesday.

Novell BrainShare has the company's CEO, Ron Hovsepian, avoiding the subject of Elliott Associates, which still wants Novell acquired

First up, no one at Novell is going to want to be acquired by Elliott. Why? Because Elliott will almost certainly want to break Novell up and sell the pieces.

Novell shares soared 28 percent in after-hours trading today after institutional stockholder Elliott Associates offered to purchase the entire company for $5.75 a share in cash, or $1 billion.

The company received what they call an "unsolicited proposal from Elliott Associates, L.P. to acquire the Company for $5.75 per share in cash," which values the company at just under $2 billion.

Novell's CEO on Saturday notified customers that the open source software company has rejected hedge fund Elliott Associates' roughly $2 billion bid to take it private.

Spring has sprung, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes the blooming of flowers, the chirps of baby birds, and "Novell's Board of Directors reject[ing] Elliott Associates' unsolicited, conditional proposal as inadequate."