The $3.6 billion acquisition of California-based cybersecurity company Imperva by the French aerospace and defense group Thales is reportedly good for both companies. Both companies announced the deal had been reached for the former company to purchase the latter from Thoma Bravo.
"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," Imperva CEO Pam Murphy said in a Thoma Bravo news release. "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."
Thales' expects to to generate more than €2.4 billion revenues in total cybersecurity business and the transaction is expected "to deliver significant value to Thales shareholders, including $110 million in run-rate cost and revenue synergies, enhanced financial profile of the DIS segment, and substantial medium-term adjusted EPS accretion," the Thoma Bravo news release said.
The integration of Imperva into Thales also is expected to "greatly expand" Thales market presence in the fast-growing cybersecurity sector, the news release said. The deal is expected to close by end of next year, subject to customary anti-trust and regulatory approvals.
New financial targets for Thales' Digital Identity and Security (DIS) activity are set, as part of the integration, aim for organic sales growth of +6% to +7% between 2024 to 2027, with the EBIT margin reaching 16.5% by 2027, according to the Thoma Bravo news release.
"The acquisition of Imperva marks a major milestone in Thales' cybersecurity strategy," Thales Chairman and CEO Patrice Caine said in a news release. "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."
Caine noted they have "tremendous respect for Imperva's innovative application and data security offerings," and the two companies share the same vision, according to the release.
"We are thrilled to enter the next phase of our growth together," Caine said in the release. "We look forward to welcoming Imperva to Thales to further enhance our cybersecurity solutions, and help customers address their most important digital security challenges."
"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," Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Seth Boro said in the release. "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," Boro added, according to the release. We are proud of what we built through our partnership with Pam Murphy and the Imperva team, and look forward to watching the company’s continued success as part of Thales’ innovative and diverse security portfolio."