Raytheon said Monday that it is buying Websense to combine the Austin, Texas, company’s cyber security platform with Raytheon’s technologies “to provide a new level of defense-grade cyber security to combat the evolving cyber threat environment.”
The arms maker said it entered into a definitive agreement with Vista Equity Partners to form a new company combining Websense, a Vista portfolio company, with Raytheon Cyber Products, a business unit of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services segment.
“The market for advanced cyber solutions that protect and defend global industry and infrastructure is rapidly growing due to the sophisticated threats posed by well-funded, nation-state adversaries and criminal networks,” Raytheon chairman and chief executive Thomas A. Kennedy said in a press release.
Raytheon would pay roughly $1.57 billion in cash for an 80.3% ownership of the joint venture.
As part of the deal, Raytheon would contribute $1.9 billion (net of cash acquired) to acquire Websense, of which $600 million would be in the form of an intercompany loan to the joint venture. Raytheon would also contribute the assets of Raytheon Cyber Products and related intellectual property, which is valued at $400 million.
Vista Equity would subsequently invest roughly $335 million for a 19.7% equity stake in the new company.
After the close of the deal, expected in the second quarter, the new company would be a separately-reported Raytheon business segment with Websense’s CEO John R. McCormack as CEO of the new company. The newly-established board would include representatives from both Raytheon and Vista Equity Partners.
FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a note, according to Reuters, that the deal “speaks to the growing importance of cyber security to protect enterprises, as well as government assets, from malicious activity and state attacks.”