Forcepoint announced the completed acquisition of the company's
Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure (G2CI) cybersecurity business
by TPG, a global alternative asset management firm.
The transaction
separates Forcepoint's G2CI and Commercial businesses and marks Forcepoint
G2CI's next chapter as an independent company with the flexibility and
resources to grow its platform as a comprehensive, next-generation
cybersecurity provider for the defense, intelligence, and critical national
infrastructure industries. TPG acquired the business through TPG Capital, its
large-scale U.S. and European private equity platform.
As part of the
transition, Forcepoint G2CI President Sean Berg has been named CEO of the new
company, effective immediately. Under Berg's leadership, the Forcepoint G2CI
business grew to become an industry leader in Cross Domain and Insider Threat
Solutions for government agencies worldwide. As CEO, Berg will focus the
company's strategy on global growth and expansion of the business.
Additionally,
Peter Leav has joined the new company's Board of Directors as Executive
Chairman. Leav is an accomplished industry executive who has significant
experience growing technology companies. He most recently served as President
and CEO of McAfee, a former TPG portfolio company.
"For more than
20 years, Forcepoint G2CI has worked to solve government's most complex
challenges - mitigating the risk posed by insiders, enabling remote work,
facilitating data sharing in classified environments and securing our nation's
critical infrastructure," said Berg. "As the cybersecurity landscape grows even
more complex for public sector organizations worldwide, particularly in the
emerging AI era, partnering with TPG positions us to continue to meet our
customers' needs, both now and in the future."
"Teams across
all levels of government rely on Forcepoint G2CI to conduct mission-critical
business safely and effectively," said Tim Millikin, Partner at TPG. "The
transaction provides Forcepoint G2CI with additional flexibility and resources
to build upon its trusted platform, serving as a partner of choice to agencies
amid an ever-changing operating environment. We look forward to partnering with
Sean, Peter, and the G2CI team to invest behind the company's capabilities and
deepen relationships with global government and critical infrastructure
customers."
Francisco
Partners, a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering
with technology businesses, will maintain a minority stake in Forcepoint G2CI.
The firm continues to own Forcepoint's Commercial business.
"Cyberattacks
from malicious nation-states, bad actors and insiders remain an existential
threat to global governments and private industry," said Andrew Kowal, Partner
at Francisco Partners. "The closing of this transaction allows both Forcepoint
Commercial and G2CI to focus on simplifying security for their primary
customers and bringing to market game-changing solutions that improve efficacy,
ease of use, and TCO for security investments."