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NortonLifeLock Inc., NLOK, -0.24% the $16 billion consumer-software company, has attracted deal interest from a handful of companies including rival McAfee LLC, people familiar with the matter said.
Among the options being considered, according to the people, is a combination with the consumer business of McAfee, the antivirus-software company owned by Intel Corp. INTC, -0.49% and private-equity firms TPG and Thoma Bravo LLC.
McAfee and its owners join Permira and Advent International Corp. as potential suitors for NortonLifeLock. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that those private-equity firms had made a bid for the business.
NortonLifeLock, based in Mountainview, Calif., is the new name for Symantec Corp. since that company closed a $10.7 billion deal to sell its enterprise-security business to Broadcom Inc. AVGO, -0.53% in early November. The newly christened company, which had a market value of around $15.8 billion at its closing share price Monday of $25.40, primarily sells Norton antivirus software and LifeLock identity-theft-protection products.
Permira and Advent made an approach before the Broadcom deal closed. They proposed a takeover that would have valued Symantec at $26 to $27 a share and handed them the consumer operation while preserving the sale of the enterprise business to Broadcom, a major chip and software producer. But they failed to reach an agreement before the enterprise sale closed.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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