HP is to acquire Australian document and records management software company Tower in a cash transaction worth $AUS3.39 (£1.55) per share.

Tower Software specialises in electronic discovery applications that help companies comply with industry rules and regulations on data storage such as Sarbanes Oxley.

The company's software searches both unstructured and structured data, and integrates with Microsoft’s SharePoint web-based collaboration and document management platform. It has already been used in HP’s data archiving hardware and software products.

Tower has around 1,000 customers with more than 780,000 users in 32 countries.