McAfee to Tap Morgan Stanley, Bank of America for IPO
IPO could value the cyber security company at at least $8 billion.
(Bloomberg) -- McAfee Inc. has hired underwriters to pursue an initial public offering this year that its owners hope could value the cyber security company at at least $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
McAfee, partly owned by Intel Corp., is working with Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp. as well as a full banking syndicate for an IPO, which could take place this fall, said one of the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter is private.
A final decision on a listing hasn’t been made and the company’s plans could change, the people said. The company’s owners include the private equity firms TPG and Thoma Bravo.
Representatives for McAfee, Intel, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and TPG declined to comment. A representative for Thoma Bravo didn’t respond to requests for comment.
An IPO would complete a round trip for the Santa Clara, California-based company started by John McAfee in 1989. Intel, seeking to build security features directly into its chips, bought the company for $7.7 billion in 2010, with TPG and Thoma Bravo taking stakes later.
In 2016, John McAfee sued Intel over for the right to use his name in a new business venture. They settled the case the following year.
This year, cyber security companies have fared well in U.S. IPOs.
Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. has risen about 150% since going public in June while Tufin Software Technologies Ltd. has climbed about 25% since listing in April.
Zscaler Inc., the cloud-based internet security platform that raised $192 million in its IPO last year, is trading up 344% from its offer price.
--With assistance from Ian King.
To contact the reporters on this story: Liana Baker in New York at lbaker75@bloomberg.net;Kiel Porter in Chicago at kporter17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Hauck at dhauck1@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks
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