Thales has moved to acquire a number of cybersecurity companies in recent years. Credit: Shutterstock/Michael Traitov

Thales has completed the acquisition of US-based cybersecurity company Imperva earlier than expected, with the deal having previously thought likely to be concluded in Q1 2024, in a move that will additional defence and commercial cybersecurity capabilities to the European defence prime.

Announcing the completion on 4 December, Thales said the deal would create “a global leader in cybersecurity” with more than 5,800 sector experts and €2.4bn ($2.6bn) in cybersecurity revenue expected in 2024. The company said that the deal would “generate significant value creation” for shareholders.

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In addition, the profile of Thales’ Digital Identity and Security (DIS) activity will be enhanced with new financial targets by 2027 (2024-2027 organic sales growth of +6 to +7% and 2027 EBIT margin at 16.5%), Thales stated.

The deal is Thales’ ninth acquisition in the digital security area over the last nine years, and the second largest in the Group’s history after Gemalto. Other recent cybersecurity acquisitions include Tesserent (Australia) and Europe-based S21sec & Excellium.

Thales’ move to acquire Imperva from Thoma Bravo in a $3.6bn deal was first reported in July 2023. According to GlobalData intelligence Imperva’s product portfolio includes application security, data security, network security, cloud native security and security automation products.

See Also:

Cybersecurity market expected to grow

The cost of global cybercrime will reach $10.5trn annually by 2025, according to GlobalData’s thematic intelligence report on ‘Cybersecurity’ (2023), with cybersecurity revenues reaching $344bn worldwide by 2030.

Analysis conducted by GlobalData showed that the global aerospace, defence and security industry experienced a 24% drop in company filings mentions of cybersecurity in Q3 2023 compared with the previous quarter.

Of the top companies in the aerospace, defence and security industry, Textron had the greatest increase in references for cybersecurity in Q3 2023, compared with the previous quarter. GlobalData identified six cybersecurity-related sentences in the filings of US defence prime Textron – 1% of all sentences – and a decrease of 14% in Q3 2023 compared with Q3 2022.

Elsewhere, BAE Systems’s mentions of cybersecurity rose by 67% to five, Thales’s by 64% to five, Bharat Electronics’s by 86% to three, and Hindustan Aeronautics’s by 57% to three instances.

Our signals coverage is powered by GlobalData’s Thematic Engine, which tags millions of data items across six alternative datasets — patents, jobs, deals, company filings, social media mentions and news — to themes, sectors and companies. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed.