An investor group led by buyout firms Advent International Corp., Permira Advisers and others agreed to take McAfee Corp. private in a deal that values the cybersecurity software maker at more than US$14 billion including debt.

The private equity consortium will pay US$26 a share in cash, according to a statement Monday. Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC Pvt Ltd. and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are also part of the group of buyers. 

The purchase price represents a premium of about 23 per cent over McAfee’s closing share price of US$21.21 on Nov. 4, the day before Bloomberg News first reported details of the potential deal. The shares fell 3.4 per cent in premarket trading Monday. McAfee has total debt of about US$4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Founded by cybersecurity entrepreneur John McAfee in 1987, the company was a pioneer in developing antivirus software for personal computers. McAfee left in 1994, and was found dead in a Spanish prison cell in June this year, hours after Spain’s National Court approved his extradition to the U.S. over multiple tax fraud charges.

McAfee was acquired by Intel Corp. in 2010. In 2016, Intel announced that it had signed an agreement to transfer a 51 per cent stake in McAfee to the investment firm TPG in a deal that valued the spun off company at US$4.2 billion, including debt. McAfee returned to the public markets in October last year.

McAfee is allowed to solicit alternative offers for 45 days, the statement said.