Home / Deals / Advised F-Secure, a leading publicly-listed security software vendor, on its proposed $140 million acquisition of MWR InfoSecurity, a privately held cybersecurity solutions company based in the UK

Advised F-Secure, a leading publicly-listed security software vendor, on its proposed $140 million acquisition of MWR InfoSecurity, a privately held cybersecurity solutions company based in the UK
Jun 2018
acquired
$140 million
  • Sector: Infrastructure Software & Cybersecurity
  • Deal Type: Strategic Deals; Founder-led Businesses; Public Deals
  • Engagement type: Buyside
  • Size: $140 million
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Arma Partners is pleased to announce that it has acted as exclusive financial advisor to F Secure (HLSE:FSC1V) on its proposed acquisition of MWR InfoSecurity, a privately held global cyber security company based in the UK. F Secure will pay a total consideration of up to £105 million to acquire MWR InfoSecurity, including an initial cash consideration of £80 million and an earn-out of a maximum of £25 million in cash payable subject to the achievement of certain agreed business targets.

The acquisition of MWR InfoSecurity will significantly strengthen F Secure’s range of detection and response solutions and expand its cyber security services as well as its threat hunting technology. MWR InfoSecurity complements F-Secure in terms of technology, expertise and geographic footprint and this transaction marks a significant milestone for F Secure in offering enterprise-grade cyber security solutions.

The combined company will have hundreds of the world’s best cyber security consultants, making F Secure one of the few truly global technical security advisors positioned to help organisations fight today’s most sophisticated threats.

This transaction underscores Arma Partners’ deep expertise in the cyber security sector and track record of advising publicly listed clients on landmark cross-border transactions.

-MWR was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Manchester, UK
-The company is among the largest cyber security service providers globally, with a particular focus on enterprise customers
-Solutions include incident response, forensics and Countercept, a threat hunting platform providing extensive proactive attack detection solutions
-MWR serves hundreds of mid-market and large enterprises in the financial sector as well as other industries with critical IT system requirements”

-F-Secure, founded in 1988, is listed on the NASDAQ Helsinki stock exchange and is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland
-F-Secure supports a large number of companies and millions of individual customers, providing cyber security and protection services worldwide
-The company’s solutions include defence and response to cyber attacks, data breaches and widespread ransomware infections
-F-Secure serves consumers and business customers through a network of approximately 200 telecommunications operators, as well as thousands of IT service and retail partners

-Following the acquisition, F-Secure becomes the largest European single source independent provider of cyber security capabilities and detection & response solutions. Adding a significant number of highly skilled security consultants and threat analysts across multiple geographies not only enlarges F-Secure’s global footprint but also allows F-Secure to provide truly global coverage
-MWR has developed one of the most sophisticated technologically advanced threat hunting platforms (Countercept), which is very complementary to F-Secure’s existing capabilities which provides significant scope for synergies
-The combined company will have hundreds of the world’s best cyber security consultants, making F-Secure one of the few truly global technical security advisors positioned to help organisations fight today’s most sophisticated threats

-Arma Partners has built a close relationship with F-Secure over the past several years, having advised on several situations including F-Secure’s acquisition of Steek in 2009

-During this landmark acquisition of MWR by F-Secure, Arma Partners has been F-Secure’s exclusive financial advisor. Arma Partners’ advice included work on outside/ -in due diligence, extensive valuation, synergy, financing and financial impact analyses, preparation of board materials, structuring of the earn-out incentive plans as well as advice on bidding tactics and transaction considerations

-Overall, Arma Partners assisted F-Secure in realising one of their key strategic objectives, drawing on Arma Partners’ deep expertise in cyber security and continued track record of advising on landmark cross-border transactions

-The transaction also illustrates Arma Partners’ first class execution capabilities

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