Private equity firm to acquire Blue Coat for $1.3B
Blue Coat has entered an agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by San Francisco-based private equity investment firm, Thoma Bravo, in a deal worth approximately US$1.3 billion.
Under the terms of agreement, Blue Coat shareholders will receive US$25.81 in cash for each share of Blue Coat common stock held, the IT security vendor said in a media statement released Monday. This is a premium of about 48 percent more than Blue Coat's closing price on Dec. 8 and a premium of about 62 percent over the 60-day trailing average for the period ending Dec. 8, 2011. Its board of directors have approved the offer and will recommend shareholders to adopt the agreement.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012 and subject to customary closing conditions, including requisite regulatory approvals and approval of Blue Coat shareholders. The investor group is led by Thoma Bravo and includes the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, through its private investor department, Teachers' Private Capital.
Upon finalizing the acquisition, Blue Coat will continue to operate as a Web security and WAN optimization vendor and Goldman Sachs will serve as the company's financial advisor.
In the last six months, Blue Coat's board of directors had engaged in a review of all strategic options available to the company and after an extensive evaluation of alternatives, they had determined that the definitive agreement with Thoma Bravo "provides an attractive all-cash valuation to shareholders", David Hanna, chairman of Blue Coat's board, said in a statement.
Orlando Bravo, managing partner of Thoma Bravo, also added that as a private company, Blue Coat will be better positioned to innovate "at an accelerated rate" and achieve greater growth.
"Blue Coat has strong, differentiated products for protecting enterprises from the ever increasing levels of Web-based security threats and for accelerating and optimizing applications and rich media content, such as video, over their networks," said Gregory Clark, president and CEO of Blue Coat. "Our partnership with Thoma Bravo will assist Blue Coat in more aggressively realizing the opportunities in its two markets, by providing a platform that enables greater focus on the business that supports the future growth of the company."