Apax to buy majority stake in Sophos for $830 mn

MUMBAI, INDIA: IT security and control firm Sophos recently announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell a majority interest in the company to Apax Partners, a global private equity group, in a transaction valuing the company at $830 million.

When the transaction is completed, the founders of Sophos will retain a significant minority shareholding. TA Associates, a minority shareholder in Sophos since 2002, will sell its full interest to Apax in this transaction, said a press release.

Sophos operates in the IT security market, protecting companies of all sizes against computer and data threats.

Sophos’s flagship endpoint security and data protection product offers anti-virus, anti-spyware, client firewall, host intrusion prevention, network access control, application control, device control, disk encryption and data leak prevention.

The company has over 100 million users in more than 150 countries, with customers including Cisco, Marks and Spencer, Heinz and Harvard University.

“Over the past three years, Sophos has prospered operationally and financially, growing our revenues at a 27 per cent cumulative annual growth rate and generating strong cash flow,” said Steve Munford, CEO of Sophos.

He added that as the market continues its migration from point solution to tailored, unified security suites, Sophos's strategy to offer the world's most resilient, cost effective solutions without any additional complexity remains key.

Munford added, “Apax's financial backing, combined with Sophos's deep understanding of security and data protection is great news for our customers, prospects, partners. It is also a testament to the efforts of all those who helped bring Sophos to where it is today.”

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to back Sophos as well as its excellent CEO and management team,” said Salim Nathoo, Partner in the Tech & Telecom team at Apax Partners.