Private company Thoma Bravo plans to buy Sophos security company for $ 7,40 per share, for a total of $ 3,9 billion, both companies announced today.
Sophos's board of directors said it plans to report that “recommends unanimously” takeover bid to their shareholders.
Prior to today's announcement, Thoma Bravo last year acquired a small stake in McAfee and was rumored to be interested in buying the entire company.
It is unclear whether today's acquisition of Sophos will affect McAfee's plans for the market, but the two companies - Sophos and McAfee - are classic competitors in the cybersecurity market and share the same product portfolio. So the door to her agreement McAfee seems to have closed.
Thoma Bravo was founded in 2003 and quickly grew to become a major player in the capital market with more than 230 deals, mainly based on software, IT infrastructure and cyber security.
The company has been one of the most active players in the cyber security market.
Prior to that, Thoma Bravo also acquired Barracuda Networks for 1,6 billion in November from 2017. Veracode a software testing firm was acquired for 950 million in January by 2019, Imperva (DDoS attack protection) was acquired for 2.1 billion also in January by 2019 and the ConnectWise software company for 1,5 billion.
Thoma Bravo also previously owned other cybersecurity companies such as Tripwire, Blue Coat, Sonicwall, Digicert, and Entrust.
For its part, Sophos has also made purchases, such as with Dialogs, the company behind the HitmanPro security software, Avid Secure and, most importantly, Invincea.
