Symantec to sell Veritas business for $8B in cash

Symantec is selling its information management business, known as Veritas, to an investor group led by The Carlyle Group for US$8 billion as it looks to increase its focus on security.

Carlyle joined with with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund, and other investors on the deal.

The American software security company headquartered in Mountain View, California, might announce the deal even today, when it presents its quarterly earnings, a person familiar with the matter said.

“The all-cash transaction provides Symantec with significant proceeds to continue organic and inorganic investments in the rapidly growing market for security products and services”, the company said in a statement.

“Reaching a definitive agreement to sell Veritas marks an important inflection point for Symantec”, Brown wrote.

Reuters informed above Tuesday which typically Symantec could sell Veritas to Carlyle. It has authorised a $1.5bn increase in its share re-purchase program and will maintain a dividend program. It will see net cash of $6.3 billion from the deal. Upon closing of the transaction, Symantec expects to receive about $6.3 billion in net cash. It says the sale will give it a financial foundation to expand its security business and return of capital to shareholders. Symantec and Veritas announced last October that they would be splitting into two independent companies.

That Information Management business – later given the moniker Veritas in January – was designed to consist of backup and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery, storage management, and information availability services. This per-share profit figure marks an 11% decline over profit recorded during the same time in 2014; it also missed the 43-cent per-share analyst consensus.

For the full year, the company expects earnings of $1.80 to $1.90 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $1.86 per share. Up to Monday’s close, the stock had fallen about 7 percent in the past 12 months.