Blue Coat could be shopped by Thoma Bravo; IBM, Hewlett Packard, Oracle seen as potential suitors; Goldman Sachs possible adviser
Blue Coat Systems, the network security business, could be sold by Thoma Bravo, which might hire Goldman Sachs Group Inc to head the sale effort, according to a newswire report that cited unnamed sources.
Reuters cited three people as saying the sale is being explored. The article reported that the sale process hasn't kicked off officially, but that Blue Coat has begun to attract private equity interest, as well as interest from big tech vendors. One source said potential suitors might include IBM, Hewlett Packard and Oracle, the article reported.
Blue Coat, which was purchased by Thoma Bravo for USD 1.3bn in February 2012, has gone from USD 75m in EBITDA at that time to USD 200m EBITDA today, Reuters reported, citing one of the sources. Another source told the newswire it could lure a sale price of at least USD 2bn, the article reported.
Since it went private, Blue Coat has made several acquisitions.
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