A Wall Street sign is pictured outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, October 28, 2013. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 3 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is buying Ping Identity (PING.N) for $2.4 billion, deepening a bet on the cybersecurity sector that has been one of the big winners of the pandemic.The deal announced on Wednesday values each share of Ping Identity at $28.50, a premium of 63% to the last closing price of the company whose authentication and security services are used by businesses from Chevron Corp (CVX.N) to HP Inc (HPQ.N).Thoma Bravo has been on a shopping spree for cybersecurity firms in recent years, with its acquisitions including Sophos, Proofpoint and Sailpoint Technologies (SAIL.N).Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAnalysts said the latest purchase - which has an equity value of $2.4 billion, according to a Reuters calculation - could work well with Thoma Bravo's other acquisitions because of similar areas of focus."We could foresee them all being stitched together as an all-in-one identity platform at some point," D.A. Davidson analyst Rudy Kessinger said, adding the deal was "one of the least surprising acquisitions" he has ever seen.Thoma Bravo, whose assets under management total more than $114 billion, has also bought software firms such as Anaplan Inc in the past few years.Ping Identity's shares surged over 60% on Wednesday. The company's biggest shareholder is Vista Equity Partners with a stake of nearly 10%, according to Refinitiv data.Vista had bought Ping Identity in 2016 and then taken it public three years later in an initial public offering that valued the company at $1.16 billion.Vista has agreed to vote in favor of the deal, which has an enterprise value of $2.8 billion, Ping Identity said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nivedita Balu and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Aditya SoniOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Thoma Bravo deepens cybersecurity bet with $2.4 bln deal for Ping Identity.