SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—Hewlett-Packard said on March 9 that a U.S. Senate subcommittee has asked it for information on stock-option grants to executives of Mercury Interactive Corp., which HP acquired last year.

HP said it received a request on February 26 from a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs seeking details of Mercury's past executive compensation and stock option granting policies and procedures, the computer and printer maker said in a regulatory filing.

HP of Palo Alto, Calif., said it is preparing to respond to the subcommittee's request and intends to cooperate. The company made the disclosure in its quarterly financial report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

HP in November acquired Mercury Interactive, a business software maker, for about $4.5 billion in stock, its biggest acquisition since the $19 billion purchase of Compaq in 2002.

Mercury is among more than 150 companies involved in internal or federal regulatory or criminal investigations of past stock option grants that may have been manipulated to give executives instant paper gains.