Thoma Bravo buys third identification firm this 12 months with $2.3B ForgeRock acquisition • TechCrunch

Thoma Bravo is aware of what it likes, and apparently it likes identification entry administration – so much. Immediately the agency introduced its intention to amass ForgeRock for $2.3 billion, the third firm it has bought on this class this 12 months.

In April it acquired SailPoint for $6.9 billion, and in August it snagged Ping Identification for $2.8 billion. That’s a $12 billion funding to mainly construct a software program class in-house.

With ForgeRock, it’s getting a 12-year previous identification administration firm that raised over $230 million, per Crunchbase.

Chip Virnig, a associate at Thoma Bravo did acknowledge that the corporate likes identity-centric approaches to safety. “Identification-centric cybersecurity options are a essential enabler for companies to digitally rework their operations, and ForgeRock’s options mix each the superior safety and buyer usability wanted out there,” he stated within the press launch. What meaning for the opposite IAM firms it owns isn’t clear.

Whereas it is sensible that the corporate is buying these comparable belongings to construct one thing larger, a Thoma Bravo spokesperson wouldn’t touch upon its plans past referring to the press launch, when contacted by TechCrunch.

As for the deal, the non-public fairness agency paid $23.25 per share, which represented a 53% premium over the inventory’s closing worth on Monday. The corporate’s inventory worth was down over 9% for the 12 months, which given the beating some tech shares have been taking this 12 months isn’t dangerous.

However the inventory worth was up nearly 50% at present alone, so that you would possibly conclude that traders are proud of the deal.

ForgeRocks CEO Fran Rosch argued that it was a validation of the platform. It might be that or just a want by Thoma Bravo to construct one thing larger with the three firms in the identical class. Time will inform.

The corporate raised $93.5 million in April 2020 earlier than submitting for an IPO final August. After just a little over a 12 months, the corporate will go non-public once more.

The deal is topic to typical regulatory oversight, but it surely has been permitted by the ForgeRock board of administrators, and is anticipated to shut a while within the first half of subsequent 12 months.