Thoma Bravo to acquire UK cybersecurity firm, Darktrace

By Gloria Methri

US-based software investment firm Thoma Bravo has agreed to acquire UK-based cybersecurity company Darktrace in a $5.3 billion deal. According to the announcement, the boards of directors of both companies have endorsed the deal but shareholder approval is awaited.

According to the terms of the acquisition, each Darktrace shareholder will receive $7.75 per share, marking a significant premium compared to Darktrace’s recent stock performance. This premium amounts to a 44.3% increase over the three-month average share price before the announcement.

Darktrace, a company listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, is a specialist in cybersecurity artificial intelligence. Thoma Bravo recognises the company’s use of self-learning artificial intelligence to neutralise cyber threats and automate responses to cyber incidents.

Rather than studying historic attacks, Darktrace’s technology learns and updates its knowledge of an organisation’s business data and applies that understanding to help transform security operations to a state of proactive cyber resilience.

Darktrace provides a full lifecycle approach to cybersecurity, enabling its 9,400 customers to identify, stop and respond to all known and unknown threats across all aspects of an organisation’s cybersecurity tools.

Andrew Almeida, A Partner at Thoma Bravo, said, “Darktrace is at the very cutting edge of cybersecurity technology, and we have long been admirers of its platform and capability in artificial intelligence. The pace of innovation in cybersecurity is accelerating in response to cyber threats that are simultaneously complex, global and sophisticated. Darktrace is driven by a culture of innovation and we are excited by the opportunity to work alongside Darktrace’s team and accelerate its development into a scaled, global leader, further strengthening its capability and offer to customers.”

“Thoma Bravo has been investing exclusively in software for over 20 years, and we will use the full range of our platform, operational expertise and deep experience in cybersecurity to support Darktrace’s growth.”