Thoma Bravo Enters $24B Cybersecurity Ping Identity Deal

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is buying Ping Identity for $2.4 billion, deepening a bet on the cybersecurity sector that has been one of the big winners of the pandemic.

The deal announced on Wednesday values each share of Ping Identity at $28.50, a premium of 63% to the last closing price of the company whose authentication and security services are used by businesses from Chevron to HP.

Thoma Bravo has been on a shopping spree for cybersecurity firms in recent years, with its acquisitions including Sophos, Proofpoint and Sailpoint Technologies.

Analysts said the latest purchase – which has an equity value of $2.4 billion, according to a Reuters calculation – could work well with Thoma Bravo’s other acquisitions because of similar areas of focus.

“We could foresee them all being stitched together as an all-in-one identity platform at some point,” D.A. Davidson analyst Rudy Kessinger said, adding the deal was “one of the least surprising acquisitions” he has ever seen.

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