Cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions. PHOTO: Cybercrime Magazine.

Cybersecurity M&A Report, Vol. 3, No. 2: Cisco, PAN, Go Shopping Again

Major tech companies and large pure plays gobble up more cyber

John P. Mello, Jr.

Northport, N.Y. – Jul. 15, 2019

Cybersecurity Ventures tracks M&A deal flow covering startups, emerging players, and the largest tech vendors. Palo Alto Networks inked deals to take over Twistlock and PureSec — while Cisco announced intentions to buy Sentryo in the latest quarter. Read on to learn about the 41 deals we tracked in Q2.

June

Jun. 26. Accenture, based in Dublin, Ireland, a professional services company, announces acquisition of BCT Solutions, a cybersecurity consultancy with offices in Canberra and Brisbane, Australia. Acquisition will bolster Accenture’s defense, national security, and public safety services in the region. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 26. LandStar, of Raleigh, N.C., a provider of data security services, announces intent to acquire DataExpress, of Highland Village, Texas, a provider of secure, managed file transfer services, for $2.7 million in cash and stock. Landstar says deal allows it to expand product suite of its Data443 property, which focuses on data security and privacy.

Jun. 24. Saudi Arabian Military Industries, of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a state-owned defense company, announces acquisition of Advanced Electronics Company, also of Riyadh, which specializes in advanced electronics research and manufacturing for defense and communication. Acquisition is part of Saudi Arabia’s long-term program to increase local defense manufacturing. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. 

Jun. 17. Peraton, of Herndon, Va., a solutions provider for mission-critical programs and systems, announces acquisition of Solers, of Arlington, Va., a software developer and system integrator for space situational awareness, satellite ground systems and operations, cybersecurity engineering, and enterprise cloud-based solutions. Peraton says acquisition will allow it to expand its agile end-to-end solutions that address the growing complexity of customer mission needs across both national security and civilian agency space and ground programs. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 17. HID Global, of Irvine, Calif., a maker of trusted identity solutions, announces acquisition of the international identity solutions business of De La Rue, of Basingstoke, UK. HID Global says transaction will broaden its position in the government-to-citizen identification market. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 13. Palo Alto Networks, of Santa Clara, Calif., completes acquisition of PureSec, of Tel Aviv, Israel, a serverless security platform, for $47 million.

Jun. 11. Exterro, of Portland, Ore., a provider of e-discovery and information governance software, announces acquisition of Jordan Lawrence, of Chesterfield, Mo., a maker of data privacy and information management software. Exterro says acquisition will allow it to provide its clients with a fully integrated software platform for e-discovery, data privacy, security, and compliance. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 9. United Technologies, of Farmington, Conn., an aerospace company, and Raytheon, of Waltham. Mass., a defense contractor, announce an agreement to combine in an all-stock merger of equals. According to the companies, they will have pro forma 2019 sales of $74 billion.

Jun. 7. Entrust Datacard, of Shakopee, Minn., a secure identity company, announces acquisition of nCipher, of Cambridge, Mass., a developer of security products for e-commerce and public infrastructure applications, from the Thales Group, of Paris, France, a global technology company. Thales was required to sell nForce as a condition of its purchase of Gemalto, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a digital security services provider, for €4.8 billion.

Jun. 6. IIA Technologies, of Oak Ridge, Tenn., a data management and analytics company, announces acquisition of KeyLogic Systems, of Morgantown, W.Va., an information technology consultancy. IIA says acquisition can provide government clients with more than 600 professionals to solve business problems quicker and with high-impact outcomes. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 6. Cisco Systems, of San Jose, Calif., a multinational technology company, announces intention to acquire Sentryo, maker of an industrial IoT platform. Cisco says it intends to merge Sentryo’s technology with Cisco’s intent-based networking technology. It adds the technology will help infrastructure companies become more resilient in the face of potential cybersecurity attacks. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 6. NuMSP, of Clifton, N.J., a national managed service and cybersecurity solutions provider, announces acquisition of J and J Technical Services, of Albuquerque, N.M., an MSP for small and mid-sized businesses. Move extends NuMSP’s reach into Albuquerque market. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 5. Elastic, of Mountain View, Calif., a data usability software maker, announces agreement to acquire Endgame, of Arlington, Va., maker of an endpoint protection platform, for $234 million. Elastic says acquisition will allow it to enrich data it gathers from endpoints.

Jun. 4. EcoDataCenter, of Stockholm, Sweden, a co-location and data center services company, announces acquisition of Fortlax, of Ostersund, Sweden, a high-security data center firm. EcoDataCenter says the acquisition will strengthen its position in the Nordic data center market. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 4. Imperva, of Redwood Shores, Calif., a network monitoring and risk management solutions company, announces intention to purchase Distil Networks, of Arlington, Va., a bot detection and mitigation firm. According to Forrester Research, bot management will become a predominant defense application and cybersecurity companies have been tooling up to meet the demand that entails. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Jun. 3. Sophos, of Abingdon, UK, a network and endpoint security company, announces acquisition of Rook Security, of Indianapolis, Ind., a provider of managed detection and response services. Sophos will combine Rook with another acquisition, DarkBytes, of San Jose, Calif., maker of a unified platform to deliver security operations center services to organizations of all sizes, to create a new MDR services offering for its customers. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

May

May 30. Insight Partners, a New York City venture capital and private equity firm, announces intent to acquire Recorded Future, of Somerville, Mass., a threat intelligence company, for $780 million.

May 30. Sunstone Partners, a San Mateo, Calif. growth equity firm, announces acquisition of Sword & Shield Enterprise Security, of Knoxville, Tenn., a compliance and network security company. Sunstone will be combined with Terra Verde, of Phoenix, Ariz., and TruShield, of Reston, Virginia, to form a new company, Avertium. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

May 29. Palo Alto Networks, of Santa Clara, Calif., announces acquisition of Twistlock, of Portland, Ore., a container security company, and PureSec, of Tel Aviv, Israel, a serverless security platform. Palo Alto paid $410 million for Twistlock and did not disclose the financial details for the PureSec purchase. Palo Alto says the buys will advance its ability to offer the most complete and comprehensive cloud security suite in all critical areas of cloud security. 

May 28. FireEye, of Milpitas, Calif. a cybersecurity company, announces acquisition of Verodin, of McLean, Va., a cybersecurity instrumentation company, for $250 million in cash and stock. FireEye says acquisition adds significant new capabilities to its portfolio by identifying gaps in security effectiveness due to equipment misconfiguration, changes in the IT environment, and evolving attacker tactics. 

May 28. Ingram Micro, of Irvine, Calif., a distributor of IT products, announces acquisition of Abbakan, of France, a cybersecurity value-added distributor. Acquisition extends Ingram Micro’s reach in France. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

May 7. The Orange Group, of Paris, France, a telecommunications company, announces acquisition of SecureLink, based in the Netherlands, a cybersecurity services provider, for €515 million. Orange says move makes the company a leader in the European cybersecurity industry.

May 6. Proofpoint, of Sunnyvale, Calif., announces definitive agreement to acquire Meta Networks, of Tel Aviv, Israel, a zero trust network access company, for $111 million in cash and $9 million in Proofpoint stock and options. Proofpoint says acquisition will strengthen its cloud-based architecture and people-centric security platform.

May 3. NuMSP, of Clifton, N.J., a national managed service and cybersecurity solutions provider, announces acquisition of NetFusion, of Los Angeles, a managed service provider offering IT solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. NuMSP says move will extend its reach into Los Angeles area. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

April

Apr. 24. Cyemptive Technologies., of Woodinville, Wash., a provider of failsafe cybersecurity products and technology, announces acquisition of the Adaptive Technology Group, of Snohomish, Wash., an IT services and support provider. Cyemptive says acquisition will help it expand its infrastructure to meet its customers’ needs. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 24. Zacco, of Copenhagen, an intellectual property consultancy, announces acquisition of Lakhshya Cybersecurity Labs, of Coimbatore, India. Zacco says acquisition is important step in establishing a global cybersecurity center in India. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 22. KeyW Holding Corp., of Hanover, Md., a cyberspace and geospace solutions provider for the intelligence and national security communities, announces merger with Jacobs, a professional services company in Dallas. The value of the transaction is pegged at $815 million, which includes $272 million in KeyW debt.  KeyW CEO and President Bill Weber says in a statement that the merger will create new opportunities for research and development needed to enhance his customer’s national security and intelligence capabilities.

Apr. 22. NuMSP, of Clifton, N.J., a national managed service and cybersecurity solutions provider, announces acquisition of AZBS, of Chicago, a managed service provider for small and mid-sized businesses. NuMSP says will extend company’s reach into Chicago market. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 19. Ntiva, of McClean, Va., an IT services, cloud, and cybersecurity services company, announces acquisition of Diverse Technology Solutions, of Islip Terrace, N.Y., a cloud service provider. Acquisition extends Ntiva’s reach into New York City, Long Island, and Southern Florida. DTS is Ntiva’s sixth acquisition since 2017. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 18. Tesserent, of Camberwell, Australia, a managed security company, announces acquisition of Rivium, of Melbourne, a Splunk partner, for AU$3.2 million. Tesserent chief executive Julian Challingsworth said in a statement that the acquisition is his company’s first step toward becoming a full-service cybersecurity business.

Apr. 12. Corsica Technologies, a managed IT services provider with offices in New York City, Maryland, and Texas, announces it has acquired, with the backing of Inverness Graham, a private equity firm, two cybersecurity companies, EDTS and EDTS Cyber, both of Augusta, Ga. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 11. Nuspire Networks, based in Walled Lake, Mich., a managed security services provider, announces definitive agreement to acquire GBprotect, of Colorado, also a managed security services provider. Nuspire CEO Saylor Frase says in a statement that the merger “reinforces our commitment to a security approach that scales with our customers’ needs, providing unmatched Security Operations Center service delivery and around-the-clock threat monitoring.” Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 10. Aluf Holdings, a holding company in Hollywood, Fla. that focuses on biometrics and blockchain technology firms, announces definitive agreement to acquire Colotraq, of Parsippany, N.J., a data center infrastructure solutions company. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 10. Safe-T Group, of Herzliya, Israel, a provider of software-defined access solutions for the hybrid cloud, announces agreement to acquire NetNut, of Tel Aviv, Israel, a provider of secure business proxy networks, for $9.7 million — 60 percent in cash and 40 percent in equity.

Apr. 9. Shearwater, of Chatswood, Australia, an information security company, announces agreement to acquire Secarma, of Manchester, UK, a network security company, for £7.4 million — £6.7 million in new stock and £700,000 in unsecured loan notes.

Apr. 8. 2U, of Lanham, Md., an educational software-as-a-service provider, announces agreement to acquire Trilogy Education, of New York City, a work force accelerator that powers skills-based training in high-demand tech fields, for $750 million — $400 million in cash and $350 million in new 2U stock.

Apr. 8. Allied Universal, based in Conshohocken, Pa., a security solutions provider, announces acquisition of Securadyne Systems, of Dallas, also a security solutions provider. According to the Dallas Morning News, the combination of the companies, which will be rebranded Allied Universal Technology services, will be the fourth largest security services company in the U.S. with revenue exceeding $7 billion. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 8. Accenture, based in Dublin, Ireland, a professional services company, announces exclusive negotiations to acquire Cirruseo, of Paris, France, a Google Cloud services provider. “The combination of Cirruseo’s mastery of Google Cloud technologies with our expertise in digital marketing, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity would enhance our ability to deliver a unique end-to-end service offering to help clients with their digital transformations,” Olivier Girard, an Accenture managing director, says in a statement. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 5. Elbit Systems, of America, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, of Haifa, Israel, a defense electronics contractor, signs definitive agreement to purchase the night vision business of the Harris Corporation, of Melbourne, Fla., a defense contractor and information technology services provider, for $350 million. 

Apr. 3. Rapid7, of Boston, a provider of security data and analytics solutions, announces acquisition of NetFort, of Galway, Ireland, a network monitoring and analytics company. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Apr. 2. Thales Group, of Paris, France, a global technology company, completes acquisition of Gemalto, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a digital security services provider, for €4.8 billion.

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John P. Mello, Jr. is a freelance writer specializing in business and technology subjects, including consumer electronics, business computing and cyber security.