Perhaps the second time will be the charm for cybersecurity company McAfee. The privately held company, a familiar name to many PC users since its software is often bundled into new machines, announced it has filed the regulatory paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) of its Class A common stock.
The company aims to be listed on the Nasdaq once the IPO is completed, under the ticker symbol MCFE. As is common with initial filings for IPOs, McAfee has not yet set a price range or date for the issue, nor has it specified the number of shares that are to be sold.
But it has lined up underwriters for the issue. The underwriting syndicate is quite large, implying a sizable IPO. The syndicate is led by experienced IPO hands such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America Securities.
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The syndicate also includes TPG Capital, a private equity firm that bought a 51% stake in McAfee for $3.1 billion in 2016 from its then-owner, Intel (INTC 0.61%). Another private equity operator, Thoma Bravo, later joined as a minority investor.
Under the name of Intel Security, McAfee had been a business unit of Intel since 2011. That's when the chip giant acquired the then publicly-traded company for nearly $7.7 billion. It was seen by many as not a complementary asset for Intel, particularly since it was the tech giant's largest acquisition at the time.
Detailed financials for McAfee have not yet been provided. According to the company's information, in fiscal 2019 it booked just under $2.64 billion in net revenue, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) coming in at $799 million.
