French technology group Thales has announced that it has reached an agreement with Thoma Bravo, a major software investment firm, for the acquisition of 100% of Imperva, a leading US-based data and application cybersecurity company, for an enterprise value of $3.6 billion.

 

With this acquisition, Thales is taking its cybersecurity business to the next level as Imperva will enable growth in data security and the French group's entry into the attractive application security market. 

 

This Imperva takeover will be significant value creation for Thales shareholders and it will give a boost to its cybersecurity business which will generate more than €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) in revenues, it stated. 

 

Chairman and CEO Patrice Caine said: "The acquisition of Imperva marks a major milestone in Thales’ cybersecurity strategy. With this acquisition, we are seizing a unique opportunity to accelerate our cybersecurity capabilities and are taking an important step towards our ambition to build a world-class global cybersecurity integrated player, providing a comprehensive portfolio of products and services."

 

"We have tremendous respect for Imperva’s innovative application and data security offerings. Imperva and Thales share the same vision and the same DNA. We are thrilled to enter the next phase of our growth together," he noted. 

 

"We look forward to welcoming Imperva to Thales to further enhance our cybersecurity solutions, and help customers address their most important digital security challenges," he added.

 

According to him, the acquisition is in line with Thales’ disciplined capital deployment framework, with no impact on the Group existing dividend policy or ongoing share buyback programme.

 

"Closing of the transaction is expected by the beginning of 2024, upon completion of customary anti-trust and regulatory approvals," he added.

 

Imperva CEO Pam Murphy said: "Today’s announcement represents an exciting new chapter for Imperva, one that will further our mission to help organizations protect data and all paths to it, bring better protection and strategic value to our customers and partners, and create more opportunities for our team members."

 

"We admire Thales’ vision and culture, and believe that, together, we can deliver greater product innovation and efficiency through disruptive solutions, while helping to simplify the greatest security challenges facing organizations today: protecting digital identities, applications, APIs, and data in any environment, and any industry," he added.

 

Seth Boro, Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo, said: "Imperva is a leading force in cybersecurity with an impressive track record of providing cutting edge security solutions and protecting customers through all stages of their digital transformation, from the application level down to the data level."

 

"Over the course of our more than four years of partnership, Imperva further differentiated itself in the competitive cybersecurity market through accelerated growth and innovation and with its unique approach to end-to-end application and data security. During this time, the company successfully executed three acquisitions which strengthened its product offerings and capabilities to better protect clients’ critical data and applications," he added.-TradeArabia News Service