Symantec is set to buy Blue Coat Systems in a US$4.65 billion (A$6.30 billion) deal that will beef up the security company’s portfolio of cyber-defence technologies.
The acquisition will also see an Australian – Blue Coat CEO Greg Clark, pictured – take the top job at Symantec, filling the gap left by the departure of Michael Brown, who stepped down from Symantec in April, following a string of disappointing financial results.
Educated at Griffith University, Clark has previously acted as CEO of Brisbane-based software company Mincom, now owned by Swiss company ABB, and as a vice president of IBM’s Tivoli Systems group.
Private-equity outfit Bain Capital, which controls Blue Coat, has agreed to invest $750 million of the proceeds back into the combined company in the form of debt, convertible into equity.
While Symantec is a market leader in anti-virus software that runs on personal computers, Blue Coat’s technology focuses on the Web and cloud computing and is said to be used by more than 15,000 companies. The combined company will have US$4.4 billion in revenues.
