Thoma Bravo offers $ 3.9 billion to acquire security company Sophos – TechCrunch

Sophos announced this morning that private equity firm Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy the UK company for £ 3.1 billion ($ 3.9 billion). The price is based on $ 7.40 per share, and the company indicated that the board would recommend that shareholders accept the offer.

Sophos CEO Kris Hagerman, as you would expect, put the deal in the brightest possible light. “Sophos is actively transitioning into the next generation of cybersecurity solutions, leveraging advanced capabilities in cloud, machine learning, APIs, automation, managed threat response and more. We continue to execute a highly effective and differentiated strategy, and we see this offering as a compelling validation of Sophos, its position in the industry and its progress, "he said in a statement.

But private corporations usually look for undervalued companies that they can buy and either combine with other real estate or find ways to build value. Thoma Bravo indicated in a public filing that he saw a company, called "a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity solutions that spanned end-points" , the next generation firewall, cloud security, server security, managed threat response and more, "the filing states.

The company has 400,000 customers in 1[ads1]50 countries, 47,000 channel partners and more than 100 million users, according to the filing. on the news, according to reports.

It's worth noting that just last week TechCrunch's Zack Whittaker reported on "such a portability in [Sophos’] Cyberoam firewalls, which a security researcher says can allow an attacker to access a company's internal network without the need for a password. “Last week, the company provided advice on the problem, indicating that it had released an update on September 30.