Ivanti: Strategic Acquisitions Of MobileIron (MOBL) And Pulse Secure

By Amit Chowdhry • Sep 28, 2020
  • Ivanti — a company that automates IT and Security Operations to discover, manage, secure and service from cloud to edge — announced it has signed definitive agreements to acquire MobileIron (NASDAQ: MOBL) and Pulse Secure

Ivanti — a company that automates IT and Security Operations to discover, manage, secure and service from cloud to edge — announced it has signed definitive agreements to acquire MobileIron (NASDAQ: MOBL) — a leading provider of mobile-centric unified endpoint management solutions — and Pulse Secure — a leading provider of secure access and mobile security solutions.

As part of the agreement with MobileIron, Ivanti will acquire all outstanding shares of MobileIron common stock for a total value of approximately $872 million. And MobileIron stockholders will receive $7.05 in cash per share, representing a 27% premium to the unaffected closing stock price as of September 24, 2020. MobileIron’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the deal and recommended that stockholders vote their shares in favor of the transaction.

And Pulse Secure will be acquired from affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC. The terms of the Pulse Secure deal were undisclosed.

By buying MobileIron and Pulse Secure, Ivanti will be delivering on its vision to enable the self-healing autonomous edge with adaptive security and contextualized and personalized experiences for remote workers.

The combination of Ivanti, MobileIron, and Pulse Secure is also going to cement Ivanti’s leadership in unified endpoint management, zero trust security, and enterprise service management — which are essential in today’s remote work environment.

Through today’s announced transactions, Ivanti is going to enable customers to discover, manage, secure service, and automate across all device types with the Ivanti Neurons hyper-automation platform. And customers will benefit from the expanded scale, corporate resources, service capabilities and financial flexibility that Ivanti will deliver. Upon the closing of the transactions, the combined company will continue to be led by Ivanti chairman and CEO Jim Schaper.

In August, Ivanti (a portfolio company of Clearlake) announced a new strategic investment from TA Associates. And the investment from TA Associates — along with new capital from Clearlake — will be used to accelerate Ivanti’s growth. Clearlake and TA partnered to fund the strategic acquisitions.

The closings of the deals are subject to customary conditions, including regulatory and MobileIron stockholder approvals.

These are the firms involved in the deal:
-UBS Investment Bank advised Clearlake and Ivanti in the deal.

-Shea & Company, LLC advised TA Associates on the strategic investment in Ivanti.

-Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., BofA Securities, UBS Investment Bank, and BMO Capital Markets are providing debt financing for the acquisitions.

-UBS Investment Bank, BofA Securities, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and BMO Capital Markets advised Ivanti in connection with the acquisitions of MobileIron and Pulse Secure.

-Sidley Austin LLP provided legal counsel for the acquisitions and Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel for the financing for Ivanti.

-Barclays acted as the exclusive advisor to MobileIron. Pulse Secure and Siris were advised by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC in the sale.

KEY QUOTES:

“By combining MobileIron and Pulse Secure with Ivanti, we are creating a leader in the large and growing unified endpoint management, security, and enterprise service management markets. We now have the most comprehensive set of software solutions that address the growing market demand for the future of work, where working from anywhere on any device type is the new normal. With the integration of our industry knowledge and complementary product offerings, Ivanti will be well-positioned to provide our expansive customer base with the critical tools needed to tackle IT challenges in the new normal. We welcome MobileIron’s and Pulse Secure’s employees, customers, and partner network to the Ivanti family and thank Clearlake and TA Associates for their strong support in enabling these transformational transactions.”

— Ivanti chairman and CEO Jim Schaper

“We are thrilled to join forces with Ivanti and Pulse Secure in a combination that will accelerate our ability to help organizations quickly and securely embrace the future of work, in which employees, IT infrastructure and customers are everywhere – and mobile devices provide access to everything. Bringing our solutions together will enable organizations to easily secure users, devices, data and access in the Everywhere Enterprise. We’re confident that this transaction will deliver comprehensive security for the next generation workforce, provide enhanced opportunities for our team of employees, and better serve our customer base. Additionally, we believe this combination represents the best path forward for our stockholders and MobileIron.”

— Simon Biddiscombe, CEO of MobileIron

“Over the course of Pulse Secure’s evolution, we have established ourselves as a leading provider of secure access solutions to enterprises and service providers, with a dedicated group of employees, a focused strategy complemented by strong execution and an integrated portfolio of offerings designed to improve customers’ productivity, provide them with greater visibility and improve their compliance posture. Siris has been a committed partner working side-by-side with us throughout our journey, and we are grateful for the team’s support and added value to our business. As it relates to the future of work, Ivanti shares our belief that ‘Remote is the New Normal’ and our commitment to building Secure Access solutions that offer simple and unified user experiences. We are excited to join the Ivanti family alongside MobileIron and look forward to utilizing the resources that Clearlake and TA Associates provide to further establish our position as a Secure Access leader for Hybrid IT environments in a world of Zero Trust.”

— Sudhakar Ramakrishna, CEO of Pulse Secure

“We are pleased with this culmination of our investment in, and partnership with, Pulse Secure. Sudhakar and the rest of the Pulse Secure management team have done an exemplary job of building a world-class, market leading security business from the foundational technology that Siris originally acquired. Pulse Secure’s uncompromising ability to meet customer needs resulting from digital business and pandemic-related demand for distributed work, while simultaneously executing its long-term growth strategy, is a clear testament to the quality and expertise of the company and its leadership team. We look forward to seeing Ivanti continue to drive Pulse Secure’s growth and expansion with the backing of Clearlake and TA Associates.”

— Hilton Romanski, Partner of Siris

“The transformational combination of Ivanti, MobileIron, and Pulse Secure brings together three complementary, market leading businesses to bolster Ivanti’s position as a security software market leader. The combined business will have the scale, breadth of capabilities, and resources to extend its leadership position and to offer a complete product portfolio addressing the critical IT needs of its clients. We are excited to continue utilizing our O.P.S.® framework to support Jim Schaper and the rest of the Ivanti management team as they execute on their strategy of aggressive organic and inorganic growth.”

— Behdad Eghbali, Founder and Managing Partner, and Prashant Mehrotra, Partner, of Clearlake

“The union between Ivanti, MobileIron, and Pulse Secure creates a unique platform with significant capabilities and a highly experienced management team, and enhances the resources available to invest in the next generation of products. We were excited to announce TA Associates’ investment in Ivanti in August, and look forward to our ongoing partnership with Clearlake and Jim Schaper to execute on our shared aggressive growth plan for the company.”

— Hythem El-Nazer and Harry Taylor, Managing Directors of TA Associates