Thales is acquiring European cybersecurity sister companies S21sec and Excellium from Sonae Investment Management, the investment arm of multinational company Sonae Group. The acquisition has an enterprise value of 120 million euros (approximately $126.4 million) -- or roughly two times annual sales for 2021. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2022.
This is technology M&A deal number 483 that MSSP Alert and sister site ChannelE2E have covered so far in 2022.
S21sec and Excellium complement Thales' cybersecurity portfolio and strengthen the company's incident detection and response, consulting, audit and integration services, the buyer said. They also provide Thales with industrial expertise and a customer base of industrial companies and critical infrastructure providers.
A Closer Look at S21sec and Excellium
S21sec provides incident response services to help organizations comply with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines, the company indicated. These services include:
- Data security
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
- Managed security operations center (SOC)
- Security device management
- Threat hunting
Excellium helps organizations develop, implement and manage cybersecurity programs, the company stated. It offers the EyeGuard SOC service, along with information security governance, intrusion testing and other cybersecurity services.
S21sec and Excellium do not currently offer partner programs for MSSPs and MSPs. Meanwhile, S21sec has partnered with Check Point Software Technologies, Fortinet and other cybersecurity companies.
What Do the S21sec and Excellium Acquisitions Mean for Thales?
S21sec and Excellium expand Thales' cybersecurity footprint in Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Belgium, the companies stated. They also generated 59 million euros (approximately $62.2 million) in sales in 2021 and could help Thales increase its revenues.
In addition, Thales said it plans to hire 11,000 people worldwide, including 1,000 in cybersecurity, in 2022. This could help Thales further extend its global cybersecurity market reach.
Thales delivers threat and evaluation, training and cyber defense services. It offers these services to organizations in 50 countries.
