Exit: Investcorp Technology Partners sells Avira to NortonLifeLock

Frank­furt a.M. — McDer­mott has advi­sed Invest­corp Tech­no­logy Part­ners on the sale of cyber­se­cu­rity company Avira to Norton­Li­feL­ock Inc. advise Norton­Li­feL­ock, also a leading cyber­se­cu­rity company, will acquire Avira in an all-cash tran­sac­tion valued at appro­xi­m­ately $360 million. The closing of the tran­sac­tion is still subject to anti­trust clearance and is expec­ted in the first quar­ter of next year.

Invest­corp had only acqui­red Avira in April 2020 for around 165 million euros. The acqui­si­tion marked Investcorp’s seventh deal from its $400 million IV. Tech­no­logy Fund and the third acqui­si­tion of a tech company in the DACH region within the previous 18 months.

Avira is a leading multi­na­tio­nal IT secu­rity soft­ware company head­quar­te­red in Germany with offices in Europe, the US and Asia. It serves the OEM (origi­nal equip­ment manu­fac­tu­rer) and consu­mer markets with anti-malware, threat intel­li­gence and IoT solu­ti­ons, protec­ting over 500 million endpoints worldwide.

Invest­corp Tech­no­logy Part­ners focu­ses on inves­t­ing in fast-growing, foun­­der-led compa­nies in Europe. The tech­no­logy team is conside­red a market leader in inves­t­ing in lower middle market compa­nies with a focus on soft­ware, data/analytics, cyber­se­cu­rity and fintech/payment. Since 2001, Invest­corp has raised over $1.5 billion to invest in tech­no­logy companies.

The McDer­mott team led by part­ners Michael Cziesla and Norman Wasse had alre­ady advi­sed Invest­corp Tech­no­logy Part­ners on the acqui­si­tion of Avira in April and on the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in Content­serv Group in 2019.

Advi­sors Invest­corp Tech­no­logy Part­ners: McDer­mott Will & Emery (Frank­furt)
Dr. Michael Cziesla (photo), Norman Wasse (both lead, M&A/Private Equity), Dr. Kian Tauser, Dr. Heiko Kermer, Marcus Fischer (Coun­sel; all Tax), Daniel von Brevern (Anti­trust, Düssel­dorf), Dr. Niko­las Kout­sós (Coun­sel, Finan­cing); Asso­cia­tes: Dr. Marion von Grön­heim, Victo­ria Huf (Trai­nee; both Corporate/M&A)

Pros­kauer Rose (London): Steven Davis, David Hill, Jacque­line Ball