French defence and technology group Thales announced plans Tuesday to acquire US cybersecurity firm Imperva in a deal worth $3.6 billion to create a global leader in the field.
Imperva’s customers include 35 percent of Fortune 100 companies — the biggest firms in the United States — and groups in financial services, telecommunications, energy, health care, retail and e-commerce, Thales said.
Thales said the acquisition of Imperva, which is owned by software investment firm Thoma Bravo, would give it an additional $500 million in revenue.
“The acquisition of Imperva marks a major milestone in Thales’s cybersecurity strategy,” the French group’s chief executive, Patrice Caine, said in a statement.
“With this acquisition, we are seizing a unique opportunity to accelerate our cybersecurity capabilities and are taking an important step towards our ambition to build a world-class global cybersecurity integrated player,” Caine said.
Thales expects the transaction to close by the beginning of 2024 once approved by regulators.
Imperva, which is based in San Mateo, California, employs more than 1,400 people. It has a global footprint, monitoring threats across 180 countries, according to Thales.
The deal comes as cybersecurity threats are rising, with players that include governments, criminal organisations and hackers.
The cybersecurity market is expected to rise from $172 billion in 2022 to $267 billion in 2026, according to research company Gartner.