TPG Capital to Buy Forcepoint’s Government Cyber Business for $2.45B

Buyout firm TPG, through its private equity platform TPG Capital, will buy the government cybersecurity business of Francisco Partners-owned software company Forcepoint in a $2.45 billion deal.

The acquisition would give TPG control of Forcepoint Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure (G2CI), which focuses on key infrastructure for US government and federal agencies.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the deal and acquisition price late Sunday.

Francisco Partners will retain a minority stake in Forcepoint G2CI while continuing to manage the firm’s commercial cybersecurity business as a separate entity. The San Francisco-based asset manager acquired Forcepoint from Raytheon Technologies in 2021 for $1.1 billion.

“TPG has a long history of carving out, building and scaling world-class cybersecurity companies,” Forcepoint G2CI President Sean Berg said. “We’re confident that this partnership, along with continued support from Francisco Partners, will provide us the resources and expertise to strengthen our position as a partner of choice for government agencies.”

TPG is no stranger to the cybersecurity sector, with early investments in Zscaler Inc., which went public in 2018, and Tanium Inc. In 2016, TPG acquired a majority stake in Intel Corp.’s McAfee, and in 2021 it secured majority stakes in identity-management firms Thycotic Software Ltd. and Centrify.

Francisco Partners and TPG had previously partnered to buy Dell Technologies’ cloud business, Boomi, for $4 billion in 2021.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.