Private equity giant TPG on Monday announced plans to acquire Forcepoint’s Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure (G2CI) business unit in a deal reportedly valued in the range of $2.5 billion.
The Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure (G2CI) business, created in 2018 to serve as Forcepoint’s government cybersecurity unit, will be spun out as an independent entity pushing the company’s data-first SASE offering with new capabilities and third-party integrations.
The two sides did not officially put a price tag on the deal but the Wall Street Journal pegged the transaction in the range of $2.45 billion, more than double what Francisco Partners paid for Forcepoint in 2021.
Francisco Partners said it would retain a minority stake in the government-focused unit and continue to run Forcepoint’s commercial cybersecurity business as a separate entity. The company acquired Forcepoint from Raytheon back in 2020 for more than $1 billion.
In a note announcing the proposed deal, TPG said the Forcepoint G2CI unit will operate with greater flexibility and focus, positioning the spinout to target the defense, intelligence, and critical national infrastructure markets across the globe.
When the new business unit was rolled out in 2018, the focus was on securing the industrial control systems (ICS) used by organizations in the energy, oil and gas, critical manufacturing and other critical infrastructure sectors.
The company sold integrated behavior-based security products adapted for industrial environments, particularly solutions designed to provide more visibility into the potential threats facing ICS networks.
The transaction is subject to regulatory review and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Related: Private Equity Firm Completes Forcepoint Acquisition
Related: Forcepoint Rolls Out Critical Infrastructure Biz Unit
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Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and host of the popular Security Conversations podcast series. He is a security community engagement expert who has built programs at major global brands, including Intel Corp., Bishop Fox and GReAT. Ryan is a founding-director of the Security Tinkerers non-profit, an advisor to early-stage entrepreneurs, and a regular speaker at security conferences around the world.
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