McAfee sells enterprise business to Symphony Technology for $4B

The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year.

San Francisco: Anti-virus software company McAfee has sold its enterprise business to a consortium led by Symphony Technology Group (STG) in an all-cash transaction for $4 billion.

Launched 30 years ago, McAfee’s enterprise business today is a trusted partner for 86 per cent of the Fortune 100 firms around the world and reported $1.3 billion in net revenue in fiscal year 2020.

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The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year.

“STG is the right partner to continue strengthening our Enterprise business, and this outcome is a testament to the business’ industry-leading solutions and most notably to the outstanding contributions of our employees,” said Peter Leav, McAfee President and CEO.

“This transaction will allow McAfee to singularly focus on our consumer business and to accelerate our strategy to be a leader in personal security for consumers,” he said in a statement late on Monday.

With this move, McAfee expects to reduce its debts by approximately $1 billion.

In addition to the repayment of approximately $1 billion of existing McAfee indebtedness, McAfee also expects to use a portion of the proceeds from the transaction to pay approximately $175 million in customary transaction expenses and other one-time charges.

“We are fully committed to driving the business’ strategy to be the leading device-to-cloud cybersecurity company by partnering with McAfee’s existing world-class team to continue delivering exceptional performance to enterprises and government clients globally,” said William Chisholm, Managing Partner at STG.

McAfee also expects to pay approximately $300 million in additional one-time separation costs and stranded cost optimisation, a portion of which will be expenses paid by proceeds from the transaction.

“McAfee will retain its name and will continue its singular focus on delivering leading solutions to protect consumers and being a leader in personal security for consumers. The Enterprise business will be re-branded, which is expected to occur in the coming months,” the company said.