TPG, the alternative-asset manager that oversees $70 billion, agreed to acquire Intel Corp.’s computer-security unit in a deal that values the business at $4.2 billion including debt.
Intel had also been talking to other potential suitors, including buyout firms and corporate suitors, people familiar with the matter said last week, naming TPG as a likely bidder.
TPG will own 51 percent of the company, known as McAfee, while Intel will have a 49 percent stake in the spin-out, according to a statement Wednesday. The company will be led by Chief Executive Officer Chris Young, currently a senior vice president at Intel and general manager of its security unit.
Intel is offloading the anti-virus software unit as part of a strategy to focus on its more profitable data-center business. The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker acquired McAfee in 2011 for $7.7 billion to build security features directly into its silicon products.
The business had $1.1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2016, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, Intel said in the statement. Operating income more than quadrupled to $182 million.
“We have long identified the cyber-security sector, which has experienced strong growth due to the increasing volume and severity of cyber attacks, as one of the most important areas in technology,” Bryan Taylor, a partner at Fort Worth and San Francisco-based TPG, said in the statement. “We see a compelling opportunity to invest in a highly-strategic platform that is growing consistently.”
TPG, led by co-CEOs Jim Coulter and Jon Winkelried, will invest $1.1 billion in the transaction, valuing McAfee’s equity at $2.2 billion, according to the statement. The company has net debt of about $2 billion, which Intel will finance for three to five months after the deal closes. That’s expected to happen in the second quarter of 2017.