Buyout shop TPG is acquiring a business unit of software provider Forcepoint for $2.45 billion, a price more than double what tech-focused private equity firm Francisco Partners paid for Forcepoint in 2021 , said people familiar with the matter.
The entity that TPG is buying is Forcepoint’s government-owned cybersecurity business, known as Forcepoint Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure, or Forcepoint G2CI. The focus is on government and critical infrastructure customers, primarily US federal and government agencies, as well as commercial customers who sell directly to the government.
Francisco will retain a minority interest in the entity and will continue to own and manage Forcepoint’s commercial cybersecurity business as a separate entity, the people said.
Francisco acquired Forcepoint from publicly traded Raytheon Technologies in a transaction that generated gross proceeds of $1.1 billion in a quarterly earnings report, according to Raytheon.
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TPG has a history of backing cybersecurity software companies, including early investments in cybersecurity startups Zcaler, which went public in 2018, and Tanium. In 2017, the company bought a controlling stake in Intel’s computer security unit McAfee, and in 2021 it bought controlling stakes in identity management firms Thycotic and Centrify, merging them into Delinea.
Francisco and TPG have worked together on previous deals, including cloud-based software company Boomi, which they acquired from Dell Technologies for $4 billion in 2021, and Renaissance Learning, an education analytics firm, which the companies backed in 2018.
The execution of private equity deals has increased. Last week, Chicago-based buyout shop GTCR agreed to a $11.7 billion acquisition of Worldpay in what would be its largest private equity deal so far this year. According to market research firm PitchBook Data, the leveraged funding associated with the Worldpay deal suggests the big banks may be in the mood for acquisitions again.
Additionally, KKR & Co. and rival Arcline Investment Management are vying for the private takeover of Circor International.
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and KKR is also competing with strategic bidder HarperCollins Publishing to buy third-largest US book producer Simon & Schuster.
Other big deals last month included Thoma Bravo’s agreement to sell financial software company Adenza to stock exchange operator Nasdaq for $10.5 billion.
In May, Advent International and Warburg Pincus agreed to buy drugmaker Baxter International’s biopharmaceutical solutions business for $4.25 billion, and private investment firms Elliott Investment Management, Patient Square Capital and Veritas Capital announced they were buying the pharmaceutical contract research firm would take over Syneos Health for about $7 billion.
Write to Maria Armental at [email protected] and Laura Kreutzer at [email protected]