A$176 Million Transaction Complete by Year End

Continuing to expand its global cyber security footprint, Thales has entered into a binding arrangement with Tesserent Limited to acquire 100% of the latter’s share capital in a transaction that values the Australian company at A$176 million (US$120 million), the company announced on 13 June. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.

One of the largest cyber security companies in the region, Tesserent has some 500 employees and a 2022 turnover of approx. A$185 million. It provides a full suite of cyber security solutions and services to government and enterprise-level organisations. The obvious synergies that will accrue from the acquisition have led to the Tesserent board unanimously recommending the transaction. The regional market is forecast to grow at double-digit rates through 2026, and the Thales position in the cyber world – already seeing over €1.5 billion (US$1.62 billion) in 2022 sales – will be enhanced by the addition of Tesserent, will enable the company to offer much needed cyber security services in the Australia/New Zealand region.

The Tesserent business will continue to be known as Tesserent under the ‘Cyber Solutions by Thales’ tagline, and will become Thales’ lead cyber security offering in the region, supported by the scale, balance sheet and know-how of the global Thales business. The business is built around three product and service families:

• Global security products around the CipherTrust Data Security Platform,the SafeNet Trusted Access Identity & Access Management as a service solution, and the broader cloud protection & licensing offerings;
• Sovereign protection products,including encryptors and sensors to protect critical information systems;
• The Cybels solutions portfolio, a complete suite of cybersecurity servicesincluding risk assessment, training and simulation, and cyberattack detection and response.

Jeff Connolly, CEO of Thales Australia, commented “With the acquisition of Tesserent and its highly skilled team of cyber experts, and combined with our own system engineering experts, Thales Australia will establish an Australian/New Zealand leader in cyber defence able to best protect the country and its national infrastructure from cyber threats […] The Tesserent team will have access to global expertise and a strong balance sheet to provide local Australian and New Zealand businesses both a sophisticated and wide cybersecurity offering in a fragmented market […] After the acquisition of S21sec, Excellium and OneWelcome in Europe in 2022, we continue to accelerate our global cybersecurity strategy and consolidate our leadership in cybersecurity, both for critical infrastructure as well as multinational companies”.