Sophos to acquire Secureworks in $859 million all-cash deal

Sophos, a global leader in innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Secureworks, another major player in the global cybersecurity space. This was contained in a statement by the company seen by Technext.

According to the statement, the deal which would be concluded with an all-cash transaction is valued at approximately $859 million. This will grant Sophos, a company backed by Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm, a majority stake in Secureworks.

Under the terms of the agreement, Secureworks shareholders, including Dell Technologies, will receive $8.50 per share in cash. This represents a 28% premium to the unaffected 90-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP).

The transaction is expected to close in early 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. Additional information regarding this announcement can be found in the Form 8-K filed by Secureworks with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Oct. 21, 2024.

Speaking about the merger, CEO of Sophos, Joe Levy, says Secureworks offers an innovative, market-leading solution with their Taegis XDR platform. Combined with their own security solutions and industry leadership in MDR, the acquisition will strengthen both companies’ position in the market and provide better outcomes for organizations of all sizes globally.

“Secureworks’ renowned expertise in cybersecurity perfectly aligns with our mission to protect businesses from cybercrime by delivering powerful and intuitive products and services. This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our commitment to building a safer digital future for all,” he said.

Sophos and Secureworks to now provide improved service

Cyber risk continues to escalate, driven by a rampant cybercriminal ecosystem and global geopolitical pressures. Combined, Sophos and Secureworks share a long history of having exceptional threat intelligence, security operations, incident response, and innovative security product capabilities that help organizations defeat these adversaries

Sophos’ experience and reputation as a leading provider of managed security services and end-to-end security products, combined with Secureworks’ security operations expertise transformed into the Taegis platform, is expected to further deliver complementary advanced MDR and XDR solutions for the benefit of their global customer bases.

Together, they will help strengthen the resilience and security posture of global organizations of any size with a combination of security controls, AI, world-class threat intelligence, and two teams with decades of cybersecurity expertise.  

The company expects to integrate solutions from its new affiliation into a broader and stronger security portfolio benefiting small, mid and enterprise customers. This includes expanding its current portfolio with other new offerings like identity detection and response (ITDR), next-gen SIEM capabilities, operational technology (OT) security and enhanced vulnerability risk prioritization.

As two partner-centric organizations, the combination of Sophos and Secureworks will enable the combined company to expand its market presence to create greater value within the channel and strengthen the overall security community.

Speaking about the future prospects of both organisations, CEO of Secureworks, Wendy Thomas said:

“Our mission at Secureworks has always been to secure human progress. Sophos’ portfolio of leading endpoint, cloud, and network security solutions – in combination with our XDR-powered managed detection and response – is exactly what organizations are looking for to strengthen their security posture and collectively turn the tide against the adversary. As Joe and I both believe, this transaction will strengthen our go-to-market offering with Sophos’ global scale, expertise and reputation.”

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal counsel to Sophos and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC., Barclays, BofA Securities, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are acting as financial advisors and providing debt financing for the transaction. Piper Sandler & Company and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are acting as financial advisors to Secureworks and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is acting as legal counsel.

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