FireEye sells product business and its own name to private equity firm for $1.2bn

The all-cash transaction is expected to close by the end of Q4

FireEye announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its products business, including the FireEye name, to a consortium led by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG) in an all-cash transaction for $1.2bn (€986m).

The deal, which is expected to close by the end of Q4, will mean STG will own FireEye's network, email, endpoint, and cloud security products, along with the related security management and orchestration platform.

The deal effectively spins out FireEye's Mandiant controls-agnostic software and services business which is not included in the deal.

FireEye bought out Mandiant in 2014 for $1bn (€822m).

The US security vendor said the sale will enable both organisations to accelerate growth investments, pursue new go-to-market pathways, and focus innovation on their respective solutions.

The FireEye products business and Mandiant Solutions will continue to operate as a single entity until the transaction closes, allowing management and STG to develop a successful transition of the FireEye products business to a standalone entity within the STG portfolio.

"We believe this separation will unlock our high-growth Mandiant Solutions business and allow both organisations to better serve customers," said FireEye CEO, Kevin Mandia.

"After closing, we will be able to concentrate exclusively on scaling our intelligence and frontline expertise through the Mandiant Advantage platform, while the FireEye products business will be able to prioritise investment on its cloud-first security product portfolio.

"STG's focus on fueling innovative market leaders in software and cybersecurity makes them an ideal partner for FireEye Products. We look forward to our relationship and collaboration on threat intelligence and expertise."

William Chisholm, managing partner at STG, said: "We are extremely impressed by the FireEye products business and the mission critical role it plays for its customers.

"We believe that there is enormous untapped opportunity for the business that we are excited to crystallise by leveraging our significant security software sector experience and our market leading carve-out expertise."