MessageLabs acquired by Symantec

Acquisition deal valued at $695m.

Security industry heavyweight Symantec has announced a definitive agreement to acquire software-as-a-service security specialist MessageLabs.

According to the terms of the agreement, Symantec will pay a purchase price of approximately $695 million in cash (which will be split into roughly £310 million sterling and $154 million USD).

MessageLabs grew by more than 20 per cent over the last fiscal year to see annual sales of $145 million with more than eight million end-users. Symantec representatives say that the aim of the acquisition is to strengthen the security vendor's software-as-a-service offerings, which is an area tipped by security industry watchers for significant and rapid growth.

This latest acquisition comes four months after Symantec announced its plans to purchase online backup service SwapDrive and just a couple of months after announcing its purchase of security and privacy vendor PC Tools.

The agreement is expected to be completed by the end of this calendar year.

08 October 2008

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