French telecommunications heavyweight Orange has bought its second cybersecurity company in twelve weeks, agreeing to pay private equity fund Investcorp €515 million for Dutch security services provider SecureLink and its 660-strong team.
The deal follows Orange’s February buyout of the UK’s SecureData. It is Europe’s largest cybersecurity services deal to-date, Investcorp noted.
The acquisition, announced late Tuesday, “greatly accelerates Orange’s strategy to become a pan-European leader in cybersecurity services” Orange said, adding that it expects the deal to close by Q3 of this year.
SecureLink’s offering includes specialised security consulting, security maintenance and support with 24/7 service desks as well as advanced managed detection and response capabilities, Orange said, announcing the deal.
SecureLink group is also a value-added reseller of security software and hardware solutions, with over 1,000 technical or sales accreditations with blue chip security vendors. It reported revenues of €248 million in 2018 and serves over 2,100 customers across a broad range of industries from its 14 offices.
Orange Buys the UK’s Largest Independent Cybersecurity Company
“Cybersecurity is a growing priority for companies of all sizes, and we believe the two most important success factors are Scale and Proximity” said Hugues Foulon, Executive Director of Cybersecurity at Orange.
“Scale because today’s threats are global, complex, and require matching protection capabilities. Proximity because in the global IT world, you want a trusted local partner to secure your most strategic assets.”
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He added: “With the acquisition of SecureData and SecureLink, Orange has the highest scale to anticipate and fend off attacks, as well as local defense teams in all the main European markets, positioning the combined organisation as the go-to defense specialist. I am looking forward to building the integrated organisation.”
The deal comes as Orange reported 30 percent revenue growth for its cybersecurity division in its Q1 earnings. Group-wide revenue was €10.2 billion. The acquisition gives it an enhanced footprint in the Nordics, Belgian, Dutch, German and UK markets.
#Q1_2019 : yet another fantastic quarter for our #cyberdefense activities with 30% revenue growth 🚀🛡@OrangeCyberdef @securedataeuhttps://t.co/1fDkHYKJ5I
congrats to the team for all the hard work !— Hugues Foulon (@huguesfoulon) April 30, 2019
