Non-public equity organization Advent Global is putting its acquisition of network security seller Forescout Technologies on hold.
In February, Advent Global agreed to get Forescout Technologies in an all-dollars transaction valued at $1.nine billion, with a tentative closing date to choose put in the 2nd quarter of 2020.
Rather, Forescout these days released a statement stating it obtained observe from Advent on May well 15that the offer was off. “Advent offered observe that it would not be continuing to consummate the acquisition of Forescout on May well eighteen, 2020 as scheduled. Forescout and Advent are engaged in ongoing discussions with regards to timing to shut and the conditions of the transaction. There can be no assurance that Forescout and Advent will be equipped to access arrangement on conditions.”
It truly is unclear why the acquisition was put on hold, but Forescout president and CEO Michael DeCesare issued a public statement citing uncertainty about the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is an uncertain time for everybody, as companies and communities throughout the world navigate the issues established by the COVID-19 pandemic,” DeCesare claimed in the statement. “We continue to believe that that Advent is the appropriate companion for Forescout and we remain fully commited to completing the transaction in the in the vicinity of-time period. We thank our employees for their remarkable initiatives and commitment to Forescout, and we remain concentrated on continuing our study course of advancing our innovation roadmap and strategic cloud and company transformation.”
Forescout was established in 2000 and was mostly concentrated on network accessibility handle and security checking. Forescout went public in 2017, boosting somewhere around $117 million, and the firm shifted a lot more to IoT and industrial handle method security. The acquisition was initially announced in February in tandem with Forescout’s 2019 fourth quarter earnings, which were beneath Wall Avenue expectations.
In April, financial investment organization Spruce Stage Capital Administration issued a public letter recommending that Advent reexamine its arrangement to buy Forescout Technologies.
“Present-day information is one particular-phase towards validating our specific report that contains incisive thoughts that Advent Global and Crosspoint Capital about-believed Forescout’s money potential customers, applying as well large a valuation at $33 for each share,” Ben Axler, founder and main financial investment officer at Spruce Stage, claimed in an e-mail to SearchSecurity.
SearchSecurity reached out to Advent Global, but an Advent spokesperson declined to comment.