Deal will end Infoblox's four-year run as a publicly listed company and is expected to drive enterprise adoption of its security offerings.

Iain Morris, International Editor

September 19, 2016

2 Min Read
Security Specialist Infoblox Taken Private in $1.6B Deal

Network control specialist Infoblox is to be acquired for $1.6 billion by Vista Equity Partners after announcing in June plans to cut 12% of its workforce.

Founded in 1999, and taken public in 2012, Infoblox Inc. develops a range of security offerings for managing Internet addresses and ensuring that connected devices can be properly identified.

Vista's offer price represents a 33% premium to Infoblox's average closing price over the last 60 days and comes after several months of speculation about a takeover of the company.

Infoblox's share price has soared from $15.31 on May 11, when reports of takeover interest first surfaced, to $26.25 earlier today.

That represented an increase of 15% on the closing price last Friday, before Vista had announced its offer.

In a statement, Infoblox said Vista's backing would help it "drive DDI automation and DNS [domain name server] security into the enterprise market."

While it managed to increase revenues by 17% in the fiscal year ending in July, Infoblox cited "challenging" conditions in its earnings report and predicted that it would generate between $360 million and $380 million in sales in the next fiscal year.

Clearly, the bottom end of this range implies Infoblox would be looking at virtually no growth in sales.

Infloblox also continues to report losses, although its net loss did narrow to $13.7 million in the recent fiscal year, from $27.1 million in the previous one.

Want to know more about cloud services? Check out our dedicated cloud services content channel here on Light Reading.

In June, the company revealed plans to cut about 12% of its workforce, or 120 jobs, in an effort to make its business "leaner and more efficient."

Infoblox is reported by Bloomberg to have hired Morgan Stanley in an advisory capacity that same month after receiving a takeover offer from buyout firm Thoma Bravo.

Vista appears to have pounced on Infoblox in the expectation that a move to cloud computing will force companies to rely even more heavily on network automation and security.

"Infoblox is the trusted market leader in DDI solutions, and their strategy and portfolio of secure automated networking solutions make the company uniquely positioned to deliver for its customers," said Brian Sheth, the co-founder and president of Vista Equity Partners, in a statement.

Infoblox expects the deal to be finalized by the end of January next year and says it will maintain its corporate headquarters in Santa Clara and continue to be led by the same executive team following the sale.

— Iain Morris, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profile, News Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Iain Morris

International Editor, Light Reading

Iain Morris joined Light Reading as News Editor at the start of 2015 -- and we mean, right at the start. His friends and family were still singing Auld Lang Syne as Iain started sourcing New Year's Eve UK mobile network congestion statistics. Prior to boosting Light Reading's UK-based editorial team numbers (he is based in London, south of the river), Iain was a successful freelance writer and editor who had been covering the telecoms sector for the past 15 years. His work has appeared in publications including The Economist (classy!) and The Observer, besides a variety of trade and business journals. He was previously the lead telecoms analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, and before that worked as a features editor at Telecommunications magazine. Iain started out in telecoms as an editor at consulting and market-research company Analysys (now Analysys Mason).

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like