Dell has agreed to sell its RSA security business to a consortium led by a US-based private equity firm for $2.075 billion, the company confirmed today.
The transaction is the latest major private equity buyout of a cybersecurity specialist, following Thoma Bravo’s £3.1 billion deal for the UK’s Sophos in October.
The transaction includes the purchase of RSA Archer, RSA NetWitness Platform, RSA SecurID, RSA Fraud and Risk Intelligence and RSA Conference.
The deal, led by Symphony Technology Group, with participation from the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Fund, is expected to close in the next six to nine months.
RSA provides threat detection and response, identity and access management, integrated risk management and omnichannel fraud prevention for a customer base of approximately 12,500 customers. It also runs the RSA Conference.
“As one of the world’s elite security brands, RSA represents a great opportunity for solving some of the rapidly developing customer challenges that go along with digital transformation,” said William Chisholm, Managing Partner at Symphony Technology Group. “We are excited and fully committed to maximizing the power of RSA’s talent, expertise and tremendous growth potential and continuing RSA’s strategy to serve customers with a holistic approach to managing their digital risk.”
Dell COO Jeff Clarke said the deal will allow Dell Technologies “to focus on our strategy to build automated and intelligent security into infrastructure, platforms and devices to keep data safe, protected and resilient” and simplify its portfolio.
RSA President Rohit Ghai said: “Symphony Technology Group (STG) fully supports our vision, and with a more independent configuration, we expect to be in an even better position to accelerate innovation, ensure customer success with our portfolio of on-prem and cloud solutions, and expand opportunities for our partner ecosystem.”
Reaction to follow.