Blue Coat Systems to go public again after $2.4bn sale

Enterprise security software company Blue Coat Systems is exchanging hands for around $2.4 billion.

Gregory Clark

Private investment firm Bain Capital is acquiring Blue Coat from Thoma Bravo in an all cash deal, and plans to go public again with the company, after it was only made private in 2012.

Blue Coat says its customers include 80 percent of the Fortune 500, and it has made recent strategic acquisitions to offer advanced threat defence, security analytics and encrypted traffic management. Blue Coat has also built a global cloud security infrastructure, which integrates with its on premise solutions to offer “hybrid defence” systems.

Gregory Clark, CEO of Blue Coat Systems, said: “The acquisition by Bain Capital sets us on the trajectory to further grow our portfolio, better serve our customers and help us prepare to return to the public markets.

“Bain Capital has a long history of accelerating growth, and I look forward to partnering with them in our journey to be one of the top performing security companies in the world.”

David Humphrey, a managing director at Bain Capital, said: “We are very impressed with the profitable growth the company has demonstrated and believe strongly in the future growth of the cyber security market. We are excited by the opportunity to grow the business organically and through acquisitions, and to ultimately return the company to the public markets.”

The acquisition is expected to close during the first half of 2015, said Blue Coat.

Antony Savvas

York, UK-based Antony Savvas has been a technology journalist for 25 years and has expertise in all major areas of enterprise and consumer IT. He has worked for a number of leading technology magazines and websites and his work is syndicated across the internet. He also undertakes corporate work for some of the world's leading technology companies.