Thoma Bravo Completes $1.3 Bln Buy of Blue Coat Systems

Thoma Bravo has closed its buy of Blue Coat Systems. A Thoma Bravo-led investor group paid $25.81 a share cash, or about $1.3 billion, for the provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions. The deal was announced in December. Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, through its private investor department, was also an investor. Jefferies provided financing for the deal and served as lead financial advisor, Thoma Bravo said.

PRESS RELEASE

Thoma Bravo, LLC, a leading private equity investment firm, has completed the acquisition of Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI), a leading provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, an investor group led by Thoma Bravo has acquired all of the outstanding shares of common stock of the company for $25.81 per share in cash, or approximately $1.3 billion. Blue Coat’s current president and chief executive officer, Gregory S. Clark, will continue to serve in the role for the company.

“The security and network acceleration markets have tremendous growth opportunities, and Blue Coat as a private company is now well poised to further strengthen its market leadership,” said Thoma Bravo managing partner Orlando Bravo. “We are enthusiastic about working with the Blue Coat team to take the company to the next level.”

“This marks our fifth platform investment in the security technology sector and our fourth in networking,” added Seth Boro, partner at Thoma Bravo.  “We’re confident our approach and experience in identifying strategic opportunities, coupled with Blue Coat’s innovative solutions and proven leadership in Web security and WAN optimization, establishes a platform for the company’s continued success.”

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Blue Coat provides products to more than 15,000 customers worldwide, including 88 percent of the Fortune® Global 500. Blue Coat is recognized by industry analysts for its market leadership in Web security and WAN optimization.

“Today represents an important milestone for Blue Coat as this transaction allows us to be more opportunistic and aggressively grow our leadership in Web security and WAN optimization solutions,” said Clark. “Our customers and partners will continue to receive the same experience they’ve grown accustomed to and can expect a renewed focus on enhancing our suite of solutions through strategic and organic growth opportunities.”

The investor group acquiring Blue Coat was led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo and includes the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan through its private investor department.  Jefferies & Company, Inc. served as lead financial advisor.  Thoma Bravo received financing commitments from Jefferies Finance LLC.

About Thoma Bravo, LLC
Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for more than 30 years. The firm originated the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo applies its investment strategy across multiple industries, with a particular focus on the software and service sectors, and works in partnership with management to implement its operating and consolidation expertise to build long-term value.  In software, Thoma Bravo has completed more than 46 add-on acquisitions across 20 platform companies with total annual earnings of approximately $1 billion.  For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.

About Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat Systems is a leading provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions.  Blue Coat offers solutions that provide the visibility, acceleration and security required to optimize and secure the flow of information to any user, on any network, anywhere.  This application intelligence enables enterprises to tightly align network investments with business requirements, speed decision making and secure business applications for long-term competitive advantage.  Blue Coat also offers service provider solutions for managed security and WAN optimization, as well as carrier-grade caching solutions to save on bandwidth and enhance the end-user Web experience.  For additional information, please visit www.bluecoat.com.