McAfee announced plans to go private in a $14 billion deal, noting subscriptions to its security software for consumers are posting double-digit growth rates.

After selling its enterprise business to Symphony Technology Group earlier this year, McAfee has focused on mobile security apps and other consumer-facing solutions. On 8 November, the company stated its core direct-to-consumer business had 20.1 million subscribers at the end of Q3, an increase of 16 per cent from the year-ago quarter.

The investor group which plans to take McAfee private is comprised of Advent International Corporation, Permira Advisers LLC, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and GIC Private Limited, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Bryan Taylor, head of Advent’s technology investment team, predicted “tremendous opportunity to build on McAfee’s differentiated technology platform” to help consumers “face new and complex cyber risks”.

McAfee became part of Intel in 2010 in a deal that valued the security software provider at $7.7 billion. In 2017, Intel sold the business to TPG Capital, and in 2020 McAfee went public at a value of $8.6 billion.

McAfee’s latest transaction values the business at roughly $12 billion, and includes $2 billion in debt.