WatchGuard Technologies completes acquisition of Panda Security

WatchGuard first announced the signing of a definitive agreement to purchase Panda Security back in March. The latter is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of WatchGuard, and the combined company will enable its current and future customers and partners to consolidate their fundamental security services for protection from network to endpoint under a single company.

“Our customers and partners need access to enterprise-grade security built for the unique needs and requirements of the mid-market,” said Prakash Panjwani, CEO of WatchGuard Technologies. “WatchGuard is engaged with delivering these security services via an MSP-focused security platform that simplifies every aspect of security delivery and solidifying our position as the de facto security solution for the mid-market. The completed acquisition of Panda Security, and the subsequent integration of its portfolio into WatchGuard Cloud, represents a significant milestone for the company and will result in both immediate and long-term benefits for our customers and partners that will address common challenges with security complexity, rapidly changing network topologies, purchasing models and more.”

The immediate focus of the combined company is to provide partners and customers from both companies access to the newly-expanded portfolio of security solutions. Once the portfolios are integrated, partners and customers alike will benefit from advanced threat detection and response functionality fuelled by modern Artificial Intelligence capabilities, behaviour profiling techniques and cutting-edge security event correlation, as well as additional operational benefits such as a centralised management across network and endpoint security.

Early Access Program

WatchGuard resellers will enjoy immediate access to Panda Adaptive Defense 360, which includes both endpoint protection platform and endpoint detection and response capabilities, and Advanced Reporting Tool products via the Panda Security Early Access Program. This launched on Monday 1 June. The program will put these new products into the hands of WatchGuard partners quickly for training and internal deployment, as well as re-sale to end users.

“We believe that Panda Security’s people and technology were the perfect fit for WatchGuard’s culture and goals,” asserted Panjwani. “Working together through the final stages of a major acquisition and kicking off integration efforts during a global pandemic has been a unique experience. Though we’ve been physically separated while working from home, the shared experience has brought us closer together on a much faster footing, and has further validated the strong belief that WatchGuard and Panda Security will be a powerful combination.”

Juan Santamaria Uriarte, CEO of Panda Security, commented: “I’m happy to join WatchGuard’s Board of Directors and continue advising on daily operations to help build an integrated company that provides the industry’s best security solution from network to endpoint. In its 30 years as a company, Panda Security has developed a strong culture of passion, dedication and commitment of excellence to our customers and each other. WatchGuard’s culture and focus mirrors our own and, as we begin a new chapter as members of the WatchGuard team, I’m excited by all that we’ll accomplish together.”

As part of the transaction, Investing Profit Wisely will join Vector Capital and Francisco Partners as a shareholder in WatchGuard Technologies.

WatchGuard was represented in the transaction by Paul Hastings LLP and Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira LLP. Additionally, Jefferies International acted as sole financial advisor to Panda Security, while Uría Menéndez acted as legal advisor to the sellers of Panda Security.