Contact: Tejas Venkatesh
In its first security deal in two years, IBM reaches for financial antifraud and endpoint integrity software provider Trusteer. According to The 451 M&A KnowledgeBase, this is the highest-valued (on a price/sales basis) security acquisition for IBM, and should help further its already strong presence in the financial services vertical.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but our sources corroborated the reported $800-1bn price range that IBM paid for the seven-year-old company. Using the midpoint of that range and our own verified revenue estimates gives the target a valuation far north of any of Big Blue’s other security deals. (Subscribers to the KnowledgeBase can view our estimates, including last year’s, trailing 12-month and projected revenue, here.)
Trusteer is known for providing lightweight fraud-prevention technology that scales en masse and provides an unobtrusive user experience. Having made its mark in the banking sector for end users, Trusteer recently launched an enterprise product in its foray into that market. From Trusteer’s perspective, having IBM as a parent will further accelerate its product’s adoption in the enterprise segment.
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