(Bloomberg) -- NortonLifeLock Inc. is in talks to buy European cybersecurity firm Avast Plc, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two unidentified people familiar with the matter.
A deal could value the Prague-based firm at more than $8 billion and may be finalized this month if talks don’t fall apart, according to the report. Avast primarily makes free and premium security software and offers desktop and mobile-device protection.
Avast notes on its website that it declined an offer to be acquired by competitor McAfee in 1997 and opted to license its antivirus product to the company instead. Avast, formerly known as Alwil, took its current name in 2010 and went public in London in 2018. Private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners took a “major stake” from the company’s founders in 2014 and investor Summit Partners.
Avast’s founders, who also sit on its board, control about 35% of the shares.
Neither company immediately responded to a request for comment.
Tempe, Arizona-based NortonLifeLock has a market value of about $16 billion. The firm was known as Symantec Corp. before it sold its enterprise-security business to Broadcom Inc. in 2019 for $10.7 billion. The company had attracted takeover interest of its own a few years ago but no deal transpired.
Activist investor Starboard Value LP has a stake in NortonLifeLock and holds a board seat. It first took the position in 2018.
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