Private equity firm Thoma Bravo plans to buy security company Sophos for $7.40 per share, valuing the total at $3.9 billion, both companies announced today.
Sophos' board of directors said it plans to report that it "unanimously recommends" the takeover offer to its shareholders.
Before today's announcement, Thoma Bravo acquired a small stake in McAfee last year and was rumored to be interested in buying the entire company.
It's unclear whether today's Sophos acquisition will affect the company's plans to buy McAfee, but the two companies - Sophos and McAfee - are classic competitors in the cybersecurity market and share the same product portfolio. So the door to a McAfee appears to be closed.
Thoma Bravo was founded in 2003 and quickly grew to become a major player in the capital market with more than 230 deals, mainly based on software, IT infrastructure and cybersecurity.
The company has been one of the most active players in the cybersecurity market.
Before that, Thoma Bravo also acquired Barracuda Networks for $1.6 billion in November 2017. Veracode, a software testing company, was acquired for $950 million in January 2019, Imperva (DDoS protection) was acquired for $2.1 billion also in January 2019, and software company ConnectWise for $1.5 billion in February 2019.
Thoma Bravo also previously owned other cybersecurity companies such as Tripwire, Blue Coat, Sonicwall, Digicert, and Entrust.
For its part, Sophos has also made acquisitions, such as with Dialogs, the company behind the HitmanPro security software, Avid Secure and, most notably, Invincea.
