On 7 May 2019, Orange entered into an agreement with Investcorp to acquire 100% of SecureLink on a €515m Enterprise Value basis.
SecureLink, based in the Netherlands, is one of the largest independent cybersecurity services providers in Europe, with on-the-ground presences in Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Denmark and Norway. Founded in 2003, SecureLink provides a full range of cybersecurity services to support its clients. Its offering includes specialised security consulting, security maintenance and support with 24/7 service desks (SOCs) as well as advanced managed detection and response capabilities (MDR). The group is also a leading value-added reseller of security software and hardware solutions, holding more than 1,000 technical or sales accreditations with blue chip security vendors. With over 660 employees and 14 offices, SecureLink recorded IFRS revenues of €248m in 2018 and served over 2,100 customers across a broad range of industries.
With this acquisition, Orange becomes one of the European leaders of cybersecurity with c.1,800 employees, more than €600m PF revenues in 2018 and strong positions in major local markets through its unique European DNA and a comprehensive cybersecurity services offering.
The European cybersecurity market is growing rapidly and Orange is already a leading player in the French market through Orange Cyberdefense (€303m revenues in 2018, up 12% vs. 2017). Along with the acquisition of SecureData in January 2019, this transaction greatly accelerates Orange’s strategy to become a pan-European leader in cybersecurity services.
With an extended European footprint and increased capabilities, the combined organisation will be able to address the growing and increasingly complex security needs of its customers on a global scale, and deliver strong synergies with the expertise and worldwide presence of Orange Business Services serving more than 3,000 multinational enterprises.
SecureLink’s highly respected senior management will join the global leadership team and participate in building the operating model for the integrated combined organisation.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to complete in late Q2 or in Q3 2019.
“Cybersecurity is a growing priority for companies of all sizes, and we believe the two most important success factors are Scale and Proximity. Scale because today’s threats are global, complex, and require matching protection capabilities. Proximity because in the global IT world, you want a trusted local partner to secure your most strategic assets. With the acquisition of SecureData and SecureLink, Orange has the highest scale to anticipate and fend off attacks, as well as local defense teams in all the main European markets, positioning the combined organisation as the go-to defense specialist.” said Hugues Foulon, Executive Director of Cybersecurity at Orange. “I am looking forward to building the integrated organisation with Michel [Van Den Berghe, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense], Thomas Fetten and all the teams”.
Thomas Fetten, Chief Executive Officer at SecureLink, commented “We have been very impressed by the ambition and successful development of Orange Cyberdefense over the past few years, and are very excited to build a pan-European leader of cybersecurity together. Orange Cyberdefense, SecureData and SecureLink are highly complementary and share a common vision for the sector, and the combined organisation will be in a phenomenal position to address the needs of our customers, partners and employees.”
