Technology security company Symantec has announced its acquisition of the cyber security firm, Blue Coat, in a $4.65 billion cash deal. For Symantec, the purchase will be its biggest in over a decade.
The deal also brings a fresh round of investments from Silver Lake, which will be doubling its investments in Symantec to $1 billion. Blue Coat investor Bain Capital, the majority shareholder in the company, will invest $750 million in the combined company, Symantec said in a statement.
According to the Financial Times, Symantec will finance the deal through its own balances as well as $2.8 billion in new debt. The transaction will come to a close in the third quarter of the 2016 calendar year, after which Blue Coat CEO Greg Clark will take over as the CEO of Symantec.
According to Symantec's statement, post the acquisition the company will focus on better threat protection, which will leverage Symantec's threat telemetry and Blue Coat's networks and cloud security offerings. Also on the agenda is better cloud security for clients and an even greater investment in cyber R&D and threat research.
"With this transaction, we will have the scale, portfolio and resources necessary to usher in a new era of innovation designed to help protect customers and consumers against insider threats and sophisticated cybercriminals," Symantec chairman Dan Schulman said in the statement.
Bloomberg reported that Blue Coat was acquired by Bain and a few other investors for $2.4 billion 13 months ago, and hailed them as being the biggest winners in the deal. According to the report, Symantec is not only getting a new CEO — the company's previous CEO Michael Brown had stepped down in April — but is also broadening its portfolio while creating a broader growth path for itself.
