After split, Symantec may be seen as acquisition target company
Key reasons that led to Symantec's breakup (Part 7 of 9)
Split is likely to expose separate entities to acquisitions
As mentioned in the earlier part of this series, Symantec Corporation (SYMC), after the split, will be formed into two separate entities, one for its storage business and the other for its focus on security.
According to Bloomberg, the splitting of Symantec into two companies exposes it to become an acquisition target company. EMC Corporation (EMC) and Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) have shown great interest in the stand-alone security business and in an independent storage business to expand presence and enhance domain expertise. EMC is very interested in expanding its presence in the converged infrastructure space. Symantec, with its NetBackup appliance, is considered a leading player in this space. Andrew J. Nowinski, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, has shared his view that after the split, Symantec is likely to attract attention from its peers for acquisition. Nowinski also mentioned that Cisco Systems (CSCO) and NetApp (NTAP) might be interested in the split entities.
Strength of separate entities is likely to attract attention of peers
Cisco is likely interested in Symantec’s security business because of its huge threat intelligence network. Symantec currently has a threat intelligence network with more than ~42 million threat sensors, as the above presentation shows. Cisco monitors more than 28 million network connections through its FireAMP technology.
NetApp could have its eyes on Symantec’s storage business. NetApp is yet to develop a complete backup solution. It also lost a bidding war to its peer EMC over Data Domain, or target appliance. Through the acquisition of Symantec’s storage business, NetApp would be able to provide a complementary solution to its core FAS platform.
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