Intel-Owned McAfee Go After Norton In Security Tussle

Intel-owned McAfee is sniffing around the concept of buying NortonLifeLock the former Symantec which is a $20 billion antivirus and security software company.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the options being considered, is a joint bid with the consumer business of McAfee, the antivirus-software company owned by Intel and private-equity firms TPG and Thoma Bravo.

McAfee and its partners join Permira and Advent International as potential suitors for NortonLifeLock which is sold directed and via mass retailers.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that those private-equity firms had made a bid for the business.

NortonLifeLock, is the new name for Symantec since that company closed a US$10.7 billion deal to sell its enterprise-security business to Broadcom.

The Company has a market value of around US$15.8 billion at its closing share price Monday of $25.40, primarily sells Norton antivirus software and LifeLock identity-theft-protection products.

Permira and Advent made an approach before the Broadcom deal closed claims the WSJ.

They proposed a takeover that would have valued Symantec at $26 to $27 a share and handed them the consumer operation while preserving the sale of the enterprise business to Broadcom, a major chip and software producer. But they failed to reach an agreement before the enterprise sale closed.

Symantec had spent about $7 billion in recent years on two high-profile acquisitions, cloud-security company Blue Coat, and LifeLock, that were met with initial enthusiasm from investors.