Cyber security firm FireEye is selling its products business and the FireEye name to private equity firm Symphony Technology Group for $1.2 billion (roughly £846 million).
The company, which will have to be renamed, will retain its Mandiant cyber forensics division but will part with its cloud security, networking, and email products as well as the name.
It's expected the new entity will retain the name Mandiant Solutions, which was the name of the company FireEye acquired in 2014 for roughly $1 billion (approximately £705 million). Mandiant, created by current FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia, was integrated into the broader FireEye portfolio and became a key segment.
The move represents a change in strategy for the company, which had previously been keen to acquire other firms to expand its portfolio, including most recently Cloudvisory in January 2020. This was the firm's seventh acquisition, and previously bought the business platform Verodin for $250 million (roughly £190 million) in 2019.
Mandia said the sale of the broader FireEye portfolio to private equity will help to grow the Mandiant Solutions business, which FireEye claims has established its position as the market leader in threat intelligence and security expertise.
"We believe this separation will unlock our high-growth Mandiant Solutions business and allow both organizations to better serve customers," said Kevin Mandia, chief executive.
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"After closing, we will be able to concentrate exclusively on scaling our intelligence and frontline expertise through the Mandiant Advantage platform, while the FireEye Products business will be able to prioritize investment on its cloud-first security product portfolio."
FireEye disclosed in December 2020 that it was targeted by state-backed cyber criminals, with "highly sophisticated" hackers breaching its systems and making off with its advanced penetration tools.
As part of its broader offering, the company helps its almost 9,000 customers, including governments and high-value targets, fend off state-sponsored attacks.
It has since emerged that hackers were only able to breach FireEye having already infiltrated the SolarWinds Orion Platform in a supply chain attack. This supply chain attack also affected hundreds of other businesses as well as US government agencies.
