Bain Capital, one of the world’s foremost private investment firms, will acquire Blue Coat Systems from Thoma Bravo for approximately $2.4 billion in cash.
Blue Coat, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, provides on-premise, hybrid and cloud-based solutions for protecting web connectivity, combating advanced threats and responding to security breaches.
Bain Capital indicated a possible return to the public market for Blue Coat.
“We are excited by the opportunity to work with Blue Coat's world-class management team to grow the business organically and through acquisitions, and to ultimately return the company to the public markets,” said David Humphrey, a managing director at Bain Capital. “We are very impressed with the profitable growth the company has demonstrated and believe strongly in the future growth of the cyber security market and Blue Coat’s position in this important sector.”
“Blue Coat has differentiated products for protecting enterprises from even the most sophisticated threats, and we are proud to be a foundational part of the security architecture for the world’s largest enterprises. The world’s most trusted brands use Blue Coat, and the acquisition by Bain Capital sets us on the trajectory to further grow our portfolio, better serve our customers and help us prepare to return to the public markets,” said Gregory S. Clark, chief executive officer, Blue Coat Systems, Inc. “Bain Capital has a long history of accelerating growth, and I look forward to partnering with them in our journey to be one of the top performing security companies in the world.”
https://www.bluecoat.com/company/press-releases/blue-coat-be-acquired-bain-capital
- In early 2013, an investor group led by San Francisco-based private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo acquired Blue Coat Systems in a deal valued at $1.3 billion.
