HP confirms $1.5bn acquisition of ArcSight

HP has confirmed in a statement on Monday that it will purchase enterprise security vendor ArcSight for a total of $1.5bn, in a move echoing Intel's purchase of McAfee in August

According to a joint statement sent out by the two companies, the $1.5bn (£973m) tender equates to a value of $43.50 per share — a premium of almost 24 percent on ArcSight's closing share price on Friday.

Speaking during a conference call announcing the deal, Bill Veghte, vice president of software and solutions for HP enterprise, said: "On a macro level, we see a market that needs a proactive and effective new approach to security and compliance."

According to HP, the purchase will improve security by allowing real-time detection and correlation of threats, and will ultimately provide it with a more comprehensive overview of IT operations, security and compliance.

In the statement, Tom Reilly, president and chief executive officer for ArcSight, said: "HP will be able to offer an integrated security platform that delivers broader visibility, deeper context and faster remediation of enterprise-wide security and risk-related events. In a world where perimeter security is no longer enough, businesses need this holistic approach to securing their networks, applications and sensitive data."

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval.

HP's recent round of acquisitions began in July, when the company completed its purchase of Palm, largely for its WebOS mobile platform. On 17 August, HP announced that it was purchasing Fortify, a privately-held software security company, for an undisclosed sum. This was followed on 26 August by the news that the company was also snapping up Stratavia, again for an undisclosed sum.

After on-off negotiations to buy 3Par, HP trumped Dell in the acquisition of the virtual storage specialists on 2 September, in a deal valued at around $2.4bn, or $33 per share.