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FireEye Inc. is selling its FireEye unit to a private-equity firm for more than $1 billion, which will lead to a name change and new share-repurchase program.
FireEye
FEYE,
announced Wednesday afternoon that it will sell its products business to Symphony Technology Group for $1.2 billion in cash, before taxes and fees. The transaction includes the name FireEye, while the business that remains will be called Mandiant Solutions, referring to Chief Executive Kevin Mandia’s previous venture that was acquired by FireEye in 2014.
In a news release, FireEye said that the deal “will separate FireEye’s network, email, endpoint and cloud-security products, along with the related security management and orchestration platform, from Mandiant’s controls-agnostic software and services, enabling both organizations to accelerate growth investments, pursue new go-to-market pathways, and focus innovation on their respective solutions.”
FireEye stock was halted ahead of the announcement, which came just after the day’s regular session had ended, and fell more than 6% in after-hours action once it began trading again at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. The decline lessened as the extended session moved along, and was recently down less than 1%. Shares closed with a 0.9% gain at $22.53 and have now gained 78.1% in the past year, as the S&P 500 index
SPX,
has increased 36.4%.
When FireEye went public in 2013, it was mostly known for a combination of hardware and software that helped IT departments secure their networks, but it has attempted to refocus its efforts since Mandia became part of leadership. The Mandiant division is known more for its consulting work to help companies find, track and resolve breaches.
“We will be able to concentrate exclusively on scaling our intelligence and front-line expertise through the Mandiant Advantage platform, while the FireEye Products business will be able to prioritize investment on its cloud-first security product portfolio,” Mandiant said in Wednesday’s release.
Symphony Technology Group, also known as STG, previously purchased the enterprise-security business of McAfee Corp.
MCFE,
The two sides expect the deal to close by the end of the year.
Simultaneously, FireEye announced that its board has approved a $500 million share-repurchase plan. A conference call is planned for 5 p.m. Eastern to discuss the deal.
