Darktrace No Longer Thoma Bravo Acquisition Target, Stock Plummets in Aftermath

Thoma Bravo is no longer interested in acquiring Darktrace after initiating acquisition talks last month.

The news prompted Darktrace’s stock to plummet more than 30% on the London Stock Exchange. The company is based in the United Kingdom.

A Thoma Bravo acquisition could have taken Darktrace private after going public in spring 2021.

Darktrace confirmed the latest in a filing with the London Stock Exchange:

“Consistent with its fiduciary obligations to consider any credible proposal which may be capable of recommendation to Darktrace shareholders, early stage discussions took place with Thoma Bravo about a possible offer for the company, but an agreement could not be reached on the terms of a firm offer,” it said.

British takeover rules bar Thoma Bravo from making an offer within six months. However, there are certain exceptions. Those include a rival bidder coming forward or an agreement being reached directly with the Darktrace board.

Thoma Bravo gave no reason for the decision.

Darktrace Board ‘Confident’ About Future Without Thoma Bravo

Darktrace‘s board said it continues to be “very confident” in the company’s future prospects as demonstrated by its fiscal year 2022 results released this week. These results showed:

• A 7.9% year-over-year increase in average contract annual recurring revenue (ARR), driven by both new and existing customer activity. The average ARR of new contracts increased by more than 13%.
• The combined impact of a reduction in one-year gross ARR churn and a continued focus on upsell activities resulted in a 2.5% year-over-year improvement in its net ARR retention rate.

In its 2022 investor fact sheet, Darktrace said more than 7,400 companies have adopted its platform, and 150,000 companies could potentially adopt its platform.

Darktrace started trading publicly with its initial public offering (IPO) in April 2021. It’s an artificial intelligence (AI) company that specializes in cyber defense. Its portfolio is broad, and includes cloud security, threat visualization, and network detection and response (NDR).

Darktrace sells through various partner types, including VARs, MSSPs, small consulting organizations and other technology partners.