Britain’s BAE Systems in mid-October said it has agreed to acquire commercial cyber security service provider SilverSky for $232.5 million to grow its commercial cyber business.
New York-based SilverSky provides cloud-managed security and application services as well as cloud-based email security and threat protection software. The company, which expects to have $75 million in sales this year, has more than 5,500 customers in the financial, healthcare, retail, energy, critical infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, mostly in the United States. BAE said it is also growing in Asia and Europe.
SilverSky has 400 employees and will become part of BAE’s Applied Intelligence division.
“The acquisition of SilverSky enhances our strategy to grow our Applied Intelligence commercial cyber security business,” Ian King, BAE’s chief executive, said in a statement. “SilverSky has an established sales force, a complementary suite of scalable products and a large installed customer base, providing a proven route to commercial markets in the U.S. and other countries for our combined capabilities.”
BAE said it expects the deal to be accretive in the third year following closing. The acquisition is being funded with existing cash and is expected to close by year-end pending regulatory approvals.
SilverSky’s financial adviser on the deal is Moelis & Company. SilverSky’s investors include Goldman Sachs, Bessemer Ventures, Stripes Group, TTV Capital and Connecticut Innovations.