Cyber Security Magazine
The U.S. cybersecurity company McAfee, best known for its antivirus product of the same name, announced on Monday that it would be awarded $14 billion by a consortium of investment funds.
The group of investors, led by Advent International Corporation and Permira Advisers LLC, also consists of Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC Private Limited, as well as ADIA – the Investment Authority of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Goldman Sachs & Co LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co LLC are the financial advisers to McAfee.
The purchase price is 22.6% higher than the value of the company’s shares as of November 4, 2021.
As part of the transaction, the investor group will acquire all outstanding shares of McAfee common stock for $26 per share in an all-cash deal that values McAfee at about $12 billion on an equity basis.
The acquisition is planned to be completed in the first half of 2022, with McAfee set to be delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange at the end of the process.
The cybersecurity company was founded in 1987 by programmer and businessman John McAfee. He died at the age of 75 on June 23, 2021, in a prison near Barcelona, following an (apparently) suicide. He had been arrested in Spain a year earlier on charges of tax evasion.
According to Reuters, McAfee had been taken over by Intel in 2011, and at the time the founder had no involvement in the business.
In a similar deal in August, U.S. cybersecurity company NortonLifeLock Inc (NLOK.O) had agreed to buy London-listed rival Avast Plc (AVST.L) for up to $8.6 billion to create a leader in consumer security software.
