NortonLifeLock to Buy Avast
NortonLifeLock Inc. is in talks to buy European cybersecurity firm Avast Plc, according to people familiar with the matter, in a deal that would expand the U.S. company’s focus on consumer software.
A deal could be finalized this month, assuming talks don’t fall apart, the people said. Avast has a market value of around £5.2 billion ($7.2 billion). Assuming a typical deal premium, the deal could value the cybersecurity firm at more than $8 billion.
Avast is based in Prague but trades in London. It primarily makes free and premium security software, offering desktop and mobile-device protection. Avast traces its roots back roughly 30 years to when founders Pavel Baudiš and Eduard Kučera established the company, then known as Alwil. It says on its website that it rebuffed an acquisition offer from rival McAfee in 1997, instead licensing its antivirus product to the company. It became Avast in 2010 and went public in London in 2018. In 2014, private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners took a significant minority stake.
Avast’s founders control roughly 35% of the shares and sit on its board.
The deal would be a big one for NortonLifeLock, which is based in Tempe, Ariz. With a market value of about $16 billion, the company was known as Symantec Corp. before it closed a $10.7 billion deal to sell its enterprise-security business to Broadcom Inc. in 2019. What is left mainly sells Norton antivirus software and LifeLock identity-theft-protection products to consumers.
Activist investor Starboard Value LP owns a roughly 3% stake in NortonLifeLock, according to FactSet, and holds a board seat. It first took the position in 2018.