Blue Coat to be Acquired by Bain Capital for $2.4 Billion

Enterprise security firm Blue Coat Systems announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Bain Capital for roughly $2.4 billion.

Founded in 1996 as CacheFlow, Blue Coat went public in 1999, but was taken private in a $1.3 billion buyout led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in December 2011.

Blue Coat, which historically has been known for its web gateway appliances and solutions for monitoring and filtering users’ Internet activity, has transformed significantly over the past years and currently counts 80 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers.

“We are very impressed with the profitable growth the company has demonstrated and believe strongly in the future growth of the cyber security market and Blue Coat’s position in this important sector,” said David Humphrey, a managing director at Bain Capital.

Since accepting the buyout from Thoma Bravo  the company has made significant changes and added several new offerings, many of which have come through acquisitions.

In December 2012, Blue Coat announced its plans to acquire Crossbeam Systems to expand its security and network optimization portfolio. The company also acquired Solera Networks, a provider of security intelligence and analytics solutions, in May 2013.

In May 2013, Blue Coat acquired the SSL appliance product line from Netronome, and acquired Norman Shark, a provider of malware analysis solutions, in December 2013.

The the transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including requisite regulatory approvals, Blue Coat said.