Webroot acquirer Carbonite gobbled up by Canadian software giant

Carbonite acquired fellow security vendor Webroot earlier this year

Carbonite has inked a deal valued at $1.4bn (£1.09bn) that will see it acquired by software vendor OpenText.

Canada-headquartered OpenText specialises in enterprise information management (EIM).

The deal will see it acquire Carbonite for $23 per share in cash, which values the cloud-based data protection and backup vendor at $1.42bn.

"Following expressions of interest from multiple parties, the Carbonite board conducted a thorough and comprehensive process, which included contact with a number of strategic and financial parties, to identify the best way to maximise shareholder value," said Steve Munford, interim CEO and chairman at Carbonite.

"The board strongly believes that a transaction with OpenText delivers compelling, immediate and substantial cash value to shareholders.

"Carbonite has expanded its solutions to become a leader in cyber resiliency. We have grown through both organic and inorganic opportunities over the years, enhancing our routes to market, diversifying our customer base, and assembling a talented workforce, while adding meaningful scale. Joining with OpenText is an exciting next step for Carbonite."

Earlier this year Carbonite itself made headlines for acquiring end-point security vendor Webroot for $618.5m.

OpenText is a multibillion-dollar organisation which in recent years has acquired the customer communications management division from HP Inc and Dell EMC's enterprise content division.

It has a global headcount of around 12,000, and offices in 70 countries, including one in Reading.