6 investment firms buy cybersecurity software company McAfee for $14 billion
A six-firm consortium led by US private equity firm Advent International has acquired cybersecurity software company McAfee for $14 billion.
A six-firm consortium led by US private equity firm Advent International has acquired cybersecurity software company McAfee for $14 billion. The deal’s move to remote work and the increase in cyberattacks are making it more demand for antivirus and digital security software, the most important evidence of why McAfee was priced at such a record high.
McAfee was founded in 1987 by John McAfee and became known for its computer antivirus software. Founder McAfee left McAfee in 1994, and the company was acquired by Intel in 2010 for $7.68 billion. In 2014, Intel announced that it was deprecating the McAfee brand name for its security software and rebranding it as “Intel Security”.
McAfee returned to the public stock market in October last year and said in a statement that it would continue to operate as a fully consumer-focused cybersecurity company after selling its corporate business to private equity firm Symphony Technology Group for $4 billion in July.
McAfee reached a total of over 20 million subscribers with 640,000 new subscribers and reported net income of $491 million, up 24 percent year-over-year, according to the latest information.
The consortium is a whopping subsidiary of Advent International, Permira Advisers, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC Private Limited and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The companies leading the acquisition were Advent and Permira.
As part of the transaction, the investor group will buy all-circulation shares of mcafee’s equities for $26 per share in an all-cash deal worth about $12 billion on an equity basis to McAfee. The current deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022.
