Wilson Sonsini Guides Barracuda’s $1.6B Sale To PE Firm
Barracuda Networks Inc. said Monday it will go private after an all-cash sale to private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC valued at $1.6 billion, with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC representing the cloud security and data protection company.
Barracuda said Thoma Bravo will pay investors $27.55 per share, representing a 22.5 percent bump to the company’s 10-day average share price prior to Monday, and a rate that exceeds its 52-week high-water mark. The deal will see the private equity firm take over a company that provides products and services for more than 150,000 businesses, including network and application firewalls, email archiving, information backup and data compliance solutions.
“We believe the proposed transaction offers an opportunity for us to accelerate our growth with our industry-leading security platform that's purpose-built for highly distributed, diverse cloud and hybrid environments,” Barracuda CEO BJ Jenkins said in a statement Monday. “We will continue Barracuda's tradition of delivering easy-to-use, full-featured solutions that can be deployed in the way that makes sense for our customers,"
The deal comes approximately four years after the company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Barracuda said the sale is expected to close prior to the end of its fiscal year on Feb. 28, 2018, and that the transaction must be approved by regulators and company shareholders.
Thoma Bravo’s financing for the deal will come from Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Credit Suisse and UBS Investment Bank, according to Barracuda.
"Barracuda is a proven industry leader, consistently bringing powerful, comprehensive solutions to customers in an increasingly prevalent, hostile, and complex threat environment," Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Seth Boro said in a statement "We believe that Barracuda is at the forefront of innovation in several highly strategic areas of the cybersecurity market and are excited to be the company's partner in the next phase of its growth."
Barracuda’s share price rose sharply at the start of trading on Monday, from $23.68 per share on Friday to more than $27.50.
Thoma Bravo’s pending acquisition of Barracuda follows a deal announced in May that saw the private equity company take over Lexmark International Inc.’s enterprise software business. The business, which operates through the companies Kofax, Perceptive Software and Readsoft, handles process management, data integration and other process automation services. The parties did not disclose a price for the deal, which was completed in July.
Barracuda is represented by a Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC team.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are serving as Barracuda’s financial adviser.
Thoma Bravo is represented by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP team including corporate partners Gerald Nowak, Corey Fox, Bradley Reed and Maggie Flores, technology and intellectual property transactions partner Seth Traxler, and associate Matthew Colman.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Credit Suisse and UBS Investment Bank are serving as Thoma Bravo’s investment adviser.
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