Email security and cyber resilience specialist Mimecast is to be acquired by private equity firm Permira in a deal totalling $5.8 billion.
Expected to close in the first half of 2022 subject to customary closing conditions, the move will see the provider become a private business, having been publicly listed on Nasdaq since 2015.
In an announcement, Mimecast said Permira is well-positioned to support its future growth and strategic plans.
“Our team has done an outstanding job growing and expanding our relationships with customers and innovating our platform,” said Peter Bauer, chairman and chief executive officer of Mimecast.
“Permira has a strong track record of collaboratively supporting companies’ growth ambitions and strategic goals, and we look forward to working together to further strengthen the cyber security and resilience of organisations around the world. This is a great outcome for our company and our shareholders.”
Founded in London in 2003, Mimecast’s pure-play cloud offering promises comprehensive email security, service continuity and archiving bundled into a single subscription service. The channel-focused firm currently has 12 offices, 1,700 employees and 40,600 customers on its books.
Under the terms of the agreement, Permira will now acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of the business for $80.00 per share in an all-cash transaction. The firm said the figure represents a premium of approximately 16% to Mimecast’s closing stock price on October 27, 2021.
The move follows the private equity firm’s joint $14 billion purchase of cybersecurity vendor McAfee last month, which it entered into alongside Advent International amongst others.
“Mimecast is widely recognised as an established leader and innovator in the email security space with a strong and growing position in the enterprise market,” commented Pierre Pozzo, Principal at Permira.“We share the company’s belief in the significant opportunity ahead in cybersecurity across all collaboration channels, especially as more individuals have transitioned to a remote workplace.
“We look forward to partnering with the Mimecast team to accelerate the product roadmap and expand the go-to-market organisation in order to drive further growth.”
Permira Partners Michail Zekkos and Ryan Lanpher said they have long admired Mimecast, its management team and its employees.
“Email is the leading vector for cyberattacks, and phishing and impersonation attempts are continuously evolving,” they explained. “This means there has never been more urgency or need for organisations to protect their critical data and infrastructure.
“With an innovative platform, world-class security controls and scalable model, Mimecast is ideally positioned to help companies both large and small protect their employees from malicious activity.”
