Symantec to sell data storage business Veritas to Carlyle Group

US security firm is looking to offload its data storage unit so it can focus on enterprise and consumer security products

Security software vendor Symantec has reportedly agreed to sell its data storage unit Veritas to private equity firm Carlyle Group LP.

The deal could be announced by tomorrow when Symantec is expected to report its quarterly earnings, according to a Reuters source familiar with the matter.

Veritas was founded in 1983 as Tolerant Systems, before merging with Symantec in 2005 in a deal valued at $13.5bn - the largest acquisition made by Symantec to date. Along the way, Veritas had acquired the likes of OpenVision Technologies and the network and storage management group of Seagate Software.

Bloomberg had reported last month that Symantec was nearing a deal to sell Veritas to Carlyle in a deal worth up to $8bn.

The Mountain View, California-based company had been looking for buyers for Veritas for several months, with investors put off by a tax-burden that would be inflicted as a result of splitting the company. It had prepared to offload Veritas by separating its business into two firms - a security company and a storage company. Prior to the split, the software giant said it would have to axe 10 per cent of its staff - or 2,000 employees.

Symantec will now focus on its corporate and consumer security software, which generated $4.2bn in revenue last year - Veritas made about $2.5bn in revenue. But the firm, which owns Norton Antivirus software, has suffered from slowing demand and weak profits.

The company's shares have dropped more than 12 per cent in 2015, and are down about six per cent in the past year.