FireEye sells its products business and name for $1.2 billion

June 4, 2021: -FireEye said Wednesday it is selling its products business, including the FireEye name, to a consortium led by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group for $1.2 billion in cash.

The U.S. cybersecurity firm said the sale would split Mandiant Solutions, its cyber forensics unit, from its cloud security, network, and email products.

The shares of FireEye were relatively flat after many hours. The company said the deal expects to close by the end of the fourth quarter.

FireEye was the subject of a cyberattack by December of the previous, which it believes was state-sponsored. In February, Microsoft credited the company’s transparency about the breach in helping it discover that it had also been attacked.

FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia said the sale would help it grow its Mandiant Solutions business.

“After closing, we will be able to exclusively concentrate on scaling our intelligence and frontline expertise in the Mandiant Advantage platform, while the FireEye Products business will prioritize investment on its cloud-first security product portfolio,” Mandia said.

The sale is just the recent example of a big-dollar tech deal going to private equity.

Except for exceptional purpose acquisition companies, seven of the 12 most significant tech acquisitions in the U.S. in 2021 have been carried out by private equity firms, according to data from FactSet.

In an announcement on Wednesday, it also said its board approved a share buyback program of up to $500 million.