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The cybersecurity firm Forcepoint on Monday said it is selling its government and critical infrastructure business to the asset management firm TPG [TPG], creating an independent entity that will focus on defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure customers globally.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter subject to regulatory approvals, were not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal reported the transaction price to be nearly $2.5 billion.
Forcepoint is a portfolio company of the investment firm Francisco Partners, which acquired the cybersecurity company in January 2021 from RTX [RTX].
Francisco Partners will retain Forcepoint’s commercial business and hold a minority interest in Forcepoint G2CI.
“It’s our mission to support the national security and intelligence communities by providing trusted, data driven security solutions that enable them to collaborate and conduct mission critical work securely and effectively,” Sean Berg, president of Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure at Forcepoint, said in a statement. “TPG has a long history of carving out, building, and scaling world class cybersecurity companies We’re confident that this partnership, along with continued support from Francisco Partners, will provide us the resources and expertise to strengthen our position as a partner of choice for government agencies.”
Forcepoint and Francisco Partners are using Citi and Barclays as financial advisers on the deal. Piper Sandler is serving TPG.
RTX, which was then Raytheon Co. before being acquired by United Technologies, acquired a majority interest in Websense in 2015 for $1.9 billion. The company then acquired some smaller cybersecurity businesses and renamed it Forcepoint. In 2019, Raytheon paid $588 million to its then partner Vista Equity Partners for the remaining stake in Forcepoint.
