Software company Autonomy is to acquire email archiving and software-as-a-service provider Zantaz for $375m (£186m).

The merger will allow Autonomy to deliver an integrated risk management product combining archiving, analytics and real-time policy management into one system.

Customers’ information will simultaneously be available in operational systems and consolidated archives, says Autonomy chief executive Michael Lynch.

‘The combination of Autonomy and Zantaz, market leaders in enterprise search and content archival respectively, expands the addressable market, distribution and reach for Autonomy’s highly successful Aungate products,’ he said.

‘Our combined solution will offer our 17,000 customers information-rich risk management solutions, from hosted archiving to e-discovery, compliance, real-time governance and archive analytics in one consolidated platform.’

Zantaz has increased sales by 23 per cent in the last year to $100m (£50m) and the merger is expected to result in savings of $25m (£12.4m) a year.

The deal is expected to be completed in August.