Symantec said on Tuesday that it would sell its Veritas information management business to investment firm The Carlyle Group for roughly $8 billion in cash.
Under the definitive agreement, Symantec said that it expects to receive roughly $6.3 billion in net cash proceeds, subject to customary post-closing adjustments.
Mountain View, California-based Symantec said the cash proceeds from the sale would help continue organic and inorganic investments in the security products market and support its capital return initiatives through the purchase of common stock and its dividend.
“This development will give both Symantec and the Veritas business the financial wherewithal to accelerate the execution of their respective strategies and bring innovation to market sooner for our partners and customers,” Symantec said in a statement.
Upon completion of the sale, which is expected to close before the end of the year, Veritas will become a privately held company led by Bill Coleman, founder and former Chairman, and CEO of BEA Systems, Inc., who will serve as CEO.
In Oct. 2014, Symantec announced its original plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies – one focused on security, the other focused on information management (IM).
In FY 2014, Symantec’s security business generated $4.2 billion in revenue, while its information management business had revenues of $2.5 billion during the same period.
Symantec bought Veritas in 2005 for roughly $13.5 billion.
Symantec posted a quarterly net profit of $117 million for its first quarter of fiscal year 2016, down from $236 million during the same period a year earlier.
