TPG Capital has announced its intention to acquire Forcepoint LLC’s government business for $2.45 billion, surpassing the amount Francisco Partners paid to acquire the entire Forcepoint company in 2021. The specific unit being purchased is known as “G2CI,” which focuses on serving government and critical infrastructure clients, including US government agencies and commercial customers involved in government transactions. Following the acquisition, Francisco Partners will retain a minority stake in Forcepoint G2CI while managing the firm’s commercial cybersecurity business separately.
Francisco Partners acquired Forcepoint from Raytheon Technologies last year for $1.1 billion, making the sale of the government business highly profitable for the private equity firm. TPG Capital has a strong presence in the cybersecurity sector, with previous investments in companies like Zscaler Inc. and Tanium Inc. They also acquired a majority stake in Intel Corp.’s McAfee in 2016 and formed Delinea Inc. by merging Thycotic Software Ltd. and Centrify.
Notably, this is not the first collaboration between Francisco Partners and TPG, as they jointly acquired Dell Technologies Inc.’s Boomi for $4 billion in 2021. The deal to acquire Forcepoint’s government business is still pending regulatory review and other customary closing conditions, with an expected completion in the fourth quarter of 2023.