Dell sells RSA to Symphony Technology Group for over $2 billion

The company says it has been working to simplify its business and product portfolio for the past three years

Dell Technologies is selling security specialist RSA for $2.075 billion to a consortium of investors led by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG).

The deal is expected to be completed within the next six to nine months, subject to the usual regulatory approval.

It includes RSA's four product lines, namely RSA Archer, RSA SecurID, RSA NetWitness Platform, and RSA Fraud and Risk Intelligence, as well as the popular RSA security conference, which is held each year in San Francisco, California, as well as other locations around the world.

In addition to SGT, the consortium also includes AlpInvest Partners and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board.

"We believe this is the right long-term strategy for both RSA and Dell Technologies to ensure the full potential of each organisation can be reached," Dell Technology's vice chairman Jeff Clarke claimed in a blog post.

"For RSA, that is best achieved independent of Dell Technologies and will be in the best interest of our collective customers and partners," he added, with Dell continuing to provide and integrate RSA products for customers. Dell also expects RSA to be able to provide its customers with security and fraud teams with the ability to holistically manage digital threats.

Bloomberg was the first to report last year that Dell was open to offers for RSA Security, and expected to fetch at least $1 billion from the sale.

Clark said Dell was searching a buyer who is not only enthusiastic about RSA's mission, but also committed to its partner and customer base.

Palo Alto, California-based private equity firm STG was founded in 2002 and entered cyber security with the acquisition of risk scoring and network modelling platform RedSeal in April 2019.

RSA was founded as a boutique cyber security firm in 1982. In 2006, it was acquired by EMC for $2.1 billion. The company came under the Dell umbrella of brands in 2016 following Dell's acquisition of EMC for $67 billion.

RSA has more than 30,000 customers worldwide, including banks, retailers, and manufacturers of consumer goods.

The RSA Conference, which is the world's largest cyber security event, was visited by more than 42,500 people and 700 vendors last year.