Firms Merge to Form Security Powerhouse

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,2171,3_424221,00.html

July 27, 2000

Clint Boulton, InternetNews.com Assistant Editor
InternetNews - Business News Archives

In a move bound to leave smaller Internet security firms shaken,
Symantec Corp. bought AXENT Technologies Inc. in a stock deal valued
at $975 million.

AXENT shareholders will receive in a tax-free exchange 50 cent shares
of Symantec common stock for each share of AXENT common stock they
own. Based upon Symantec's closing price of $63.69 on Wednesday, this
represents a price of $31.84 per AXENT share. Symantec will issue
approximately 15.3 million shares of common stock to AXENT
shareholders to complete the transaction.

With the purchase, Symantec will combine AXENT's content filtering,
host- and network-based intrusion detection, vulnerability assessment
and firewall capabilities with it's industry-leading virus protection
suite.

The new company will combine service offerings to provide a broad
range of security services and consulting, leveraging one of the
largest dedicated teams of security experts in the industry.

"Symantec's content security market leadership and established brand
name coupled with AXENT's enterprise relationships, complementary
products and security services position us to be the market leader,"
said John W. Thompson, Symantec's chairman, president and chief
executive officer.

"Together we will span the needs of all customers from emerging
businesses to the largest enterprises. We expect the combination to
deliver robust revenue growth over the next several years."

The firms are so confident in their impending wealth that Symantec is
forecasting revenue growth to increase from 20 percent in fiscal year
2001 to 27 percent in fiscal year 2002 and 30 percent in fiscal year
2003. Symantec estimates its total market opportunity increases from
$5 billion to $7 billion.

Greg Coticchia, a spokesperson for AXENT, told internetnews.com
Thursday the play should put a wide gulf between AXENT and smaller
competitors because the new company will provide all of the services
that single product-focused competitors such as Check Point Software
Technologies (firewall security) and Internet Security Systems
(intrusion detection) offer.

"This deal happened very fast and we are moving aggressively to
implement a full, robust security solution for e-businesses,"
Coticchia said. "It's very indicative of how quickly the security
market space is growing. Companies are looking to deploy security
systems before they set up -- five years ago security was an
afterthought."

The transaction is expected to be accounted for under the purchase
accounting method and is expected to close by the end of the year.

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