Thales completes acquisition of Imperva to support cybersecurity

Talès, listed on Euronext Paris under the symbol: HO, announced today that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Imperva, earlier than expected (previously anticipated to occur in early 2024).

This marks a significant achievement for Talès, establishing a leading global presence in the cybersecurity sector with over 5800 cybersecurity experts in 68 countries and an expected €2.4 billion in cybersecurity revenues by 2024, covering both civil and defense activities, with double-digit growth anticipated thereafter.

This deal will generate substantial value for Talès shareholders in line with the objectives disclosed in July 2023 when announcing the acquisition.

Additionally, Talès’ portfolio of digital identity and security solutions will be significantly enhanced with the new financial targets by 2027 (organic sales growth of +6% to +7% and an EBIT margin of 16.5%).

Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO of Talès, stated, “The acquisition of the American company Imperva is a momentous day for Talès, representing a new step in expanding global cybersecurity capabilities for businesses and governments worldwide.

We are highly enthusiastic about welcoming the Imperva teams to Talès. This merger will create significant value by aligning the values of both entities and our joint commitment to a future built on trust, opening doors for opportunities and key market innovations.

With constantly increasing cyber threats against digital infrastructures for businesses and governments, Talès is now uniquely positioned to help clients protect the core of their digital ecosystem: applications, data, and identities.”

The emphasis in this context is on application security, data security, and identity and access management:

Application Security: Provides unified protection for all web applications and APIs in the cloud, workplace, or hybrid use cases.

The product portfolio includes market-leading solutions such as Web Application Firewall (WAF), Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection, advanced protection against bot programs, API security, Content Delivery Network (CDN) for developers, and self-protection for runtime applications (RASP).

Data Security: Offers protection and monitoring of access to sensitive data during rest, movement, or usage. The product portfolio includes the Cyber Trust Data Security platform, Imperva’s Data Security Fabric, as well as security modules such as Luna and Bay Shield for device security.

Identity and Access Management (IAM): Provides seamless, secure, and reliable access to digital applications and services for clients, employees, and partners.

The product portfolio includes the Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform, Welcom, and the trusted Internet-safe network.

Jesper Trolle, CEO of Exclusive Networks, commented, “As a long-term partner for both Talès and Imperva, Exclusive Networks is pleased to unite two companies we know and appreciate.

This acquisition is a major step in Talès’ ambition to become a global leader in cybersecurity and strengthen its position in data security and the thriving application security market.

With this new shared value proposition, Talès will be uniquely positioned to deliver more innovative and effective solutions to address the growing cybersecurity challenges faced by organizations worldwide.”

This marks the ninth acquisition for Talès in the digital security sector over the past decade and the second-largest in the group’s history after Gemalto, the global leader in digital security.

Following the completion of acquisitions of Tesserent, a leading player in cybersecurity in Australia, S21sec & Excellium, two major players in cybersecurity consulting, integration, and managed services in Europe, and Welcome, a leading European company in customer identity and access management, the integration of Imperva into Talès will position the group’s cybersecurity business as one of the top 5 global leaders in the cybersecurity sector.

Talès in North America, with 6200 employees and revenues of €2.4 billion in 2022, approximately 50% of which are held by American shareholders, already has a strong presence in the region.

The acquisition of Imperva will increase the cybersecurity workforce in Talès in North America by approximately one-third.

Talès invests €4 billion annually in research and development, including €1 billion in self-funded R&D. The group is fully committed to supporting Imperva customers and enhancing its solutions through rapid innovations. As an innovation-driven company, Talès holds a total of 20,000 patents, with over 50% covering core technologies related to artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, big data, cloud, augmented reality, and quantum technologies.