Thoma Bravo makes $3.9 billion offer to acquire security firm Sophos Sophos announced this morning that private equity firm Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy the British company for £3.1 billion ($3.9. Last October a US private equity corporation bought Sophos for just over £3bn, as we reported. Chairman Peter Gyenes said at the time: 'Under Thoma Bravo's ownership we expect Sophos to accelerate its evolution and leadership in next-generation cybersecurity.'
[German]UK security vendor Sophos has been (finally) acquired by US private equity investor group Thomas Bravo for the price of $3.9 billion. That has been announced recently.
Information about these plans became public in October 2019 (see my German blog post Sophos wird an Investment-Firma Thoma Bravo verkauft). Now I think that’s done, as I read yesterday on my news aggregators, which I use as sources. The announcement from Sophos can be found here.
Today, following the completion of the take-private acquisition by Thoma Bravo, Sophos begins an exciting new chapter of continued growth, success, and industry leadership. As a private company, Sophos intends to further accelerate our mission to protect people from cybercrime by developing powerful and intuitive products and services that provide the world’s most effective cybersecurity for organizations of any size.
We’re starting strong: our next-gen product portfolio, all managed in our Sophos Central cloud-management platform, now comprises over 60% of our total company billings and is growing 44% year-over-year (YOY).
Just last month we launched our most significant network security technology ever, Sophos XG Firewall v18 with the Xstream Architecture. We are seeing substantial growth not only in network security, but across our entire next-gen product line from endpoint and server security, to mobile, email, and cloud security. Pingry summer camp. Our new Managed Threat Response (MTR) service launched last October has seen rapid adoption, and now protects hundreds of customers around the world with advanced, 24×7 threat detection and response.
On the go-to-market front, our channel has never been stronger, and we continue to post dramatic results in our Managed Service Provider (MSP) business, which is a strategic priority and is growing at over 75% YOY. Sophos continues to drive market-leading innovation, and we are filling the cybersecurity void left by fading, less-nimble, and less-evolved vendors.
Sophos is now moving towards the cloud, also with the help of Thoma Bravo. But I’m wondering what Thoma Bravo has in stock with Sophos. I just remind my yesterday article Symantec acquisition by Broadcom ends in license/support chaos. Any opinions on the Sophos takeover?
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by Joe Panettieri • Mar 2, 2020
Private equity firm Thoma Bravo‘s $3.9 billion buyout of Sophos has been completed, and the two companies remain deeply committed to an MSP-centric cybersecurity push, the firms said today.
This is M&A deal Number 131 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2020. See the complete M&A deal list here.
Sophos was an early mover in the MSP partner market. Scott Barlow, VP of Global MSP at Sophos, has been instrumental in the MSP-centric partners strategy.
The company’ Sophos Central dashboard provides MSPs with a single pane of glass for managing end-customers. The cloud-based dashboard is multi-tenant, and allows MSPs to add or remove various Sophos security services on the fly.
Moreover, Sophos has launched managed detection and response (MDR) and other services that MSPs and resellers can deliver to their end-customers. Some Sophos rivals promote MDR services that are often sold directly to end-customers and bypass the MSP partner channel.
Sophos Managed Security Services and Alternatives
Key Sophos rivals working in the MSP and MSSP partner channels include BlackBerry Cylance, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Netsurion, SentinelOne, SonicWall, WatchGuard and Webroot from OpenText, among many others.
Thoma Bravo, meanwhile, is a powerhouse private equity investor and owner across the cybersecurity, IT management, and MSP-centric software markets. Key portfolio companies include Barracuda, ConnectWise and SolarWinds, among many others.
Key private equity rivals serving the MSP software market include Insight Partners, Summit Partners and Vista Equity Partners, among others.
Thoma Bravo Completes Sophos Acquisition: Executive Perspectives
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Seth Boro, managing partner, Thoma Bravo
In a prepared statement about the deal, Sophos CEO Kris Hagerman said:
“Sophos is excited to work with Thoma Bravo as we begin our next chapter of growth and success, continuing in our mission to deliver the world’s most effective next-generation cybersecurity technology. Our transition to become a fully next-gen cybersecurity leader continues to rapidly progress. Last quarter, our next-gen product portfolio represented over 60% of our entire business, and grew 44% year-over-year. And very recently, we launched our most significant network security technology ever, the Sophos XG Firewall with Xstream architecture. With Thoma Bravo as a partner, we believe we can accelerate our progress and get to the future even faster, with dramatic benefits for our customers, our partners and our company as a whole.”
Added Seth Boro, managing partner at Thoma Bravo:
“Sophos has been constantly raising the bar with its industry-leading synchronized security, advanced deep learning technology and rapid growth within the MSP channel. We are excited to partner with Sophos to help build upon their success as they further drive innovation in cybersecurity.”
The deal’s completion had been delayed a few days by a last-minute compliance check that was quickly addressed. Colorsquid.
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