Symantec Sells Veritas For $8 Billion To Private Equity Group Carlyle Group

After months of rumors, Symantec Tuesday said it has officially sold its Veritas data storage business to the Carlyle Group and Singapore-based GIC for $8 billion, a move solution providers said could result in two separate companies stronger than they were together.

The deal is expected to close by Jan. 1, 2016. Bill Coleman, a member of the board of directors, will now serve as CEO of Veritas and Carlyle operating executive Bill Krause will be chairman of the board.

"Reaching a definitive agreement to sell Veritas marks an important inflection point for Symantec. With a strong product pipeline of more than a dozen enterprise security products on track to be released this year, Symantec is now focused on extending its lead as the world’s largest cybersecurity company," Michael Brown, president and CEO of Symantec, Mountain View, Calif., said in a statement.

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[Symantec Sells Veritas: Too Little, Too Late?]

Symantec first announced its intention to split its storage and security businesses into two separate companies last October, with completion expected at the end of the year, but reports emerged last month that the vendor was looking to accelerate the split with a sale to the Carlyle Group, a Washington D.C.-based private equity group.

[Related: Reports: Symantec May Sell Veritas To Private Equity Firm]

The move essentially undoes the company's 2005 acquisition of Veritas for $10.2 billion and includes Symantec's backup and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery, storage management, and information availability products. Remaining with Symantec are the company's endpoint security and management products, data encryption, mobile, SSL, authentication, mail Web and data security, data loss prevention, hosted security and managed security services.

Symantec partners at the XChange 2015 conference in Washington, D.C., this week said they hope the breakup will free up both sides to focus on their respective product lines.

James Payne, owner of Newport News, Va.-based J&S Technology Solutions, said his company has partnered primarily with the security side of Symantec in the past, particularly around endpoint security. While the Veritas product was good, Payne said he never really saw Symantec putting much effort into the brand or the technology.

"It might be the boat anchor they cast," Payne said of what it means for Symantec.

As for Veritas, Payne said it should be interesting to keep an eye on what it will be able to produce as an independent company.

"The on-site, on-premise backup has begun to dwindle over time. ... I'm just curious to see what happens with Veritas and if they will actually evolve as a company toward some of the newer backup solutions that we're seeing out there," Payne said.

In addition, the sale itself is the best option for splitting the Veritas business off from Symantec, the company said, as it provides the highest and most guaranteed value for the division, adds acquisition capital to the company coffers and ultimately simplifies the separation process.

’This transaction strengthens our financial foundation, paving the way for Symantec to grow its security business and increase its lead as the world’s largest cybersecurity company. We believe the agreement with the investors, including The Carlyle Group and GIC, delivers an attractive and certain value for the Veritas business, and is in the best interests of all stakeholders," Brown said in a statement.

PUBLISHED AUG. 11, 2015