In the summer of 2021, NortonLifeLock announced the acquisition of its competitor Avast, but the operation is still not concluded. It could be the subject of an in-depth investigation by the British regulator, which would jeopardize the operation.
Will the antivirus market witness the emergence of a juggernaut? This seemed to have been confirmed last summer when the acquisition of Avast by the American group NortonLifeLock was announced. The transaction, valued between 8.1 and 8.6 billion dollars, was to give birth to a major giant bringing together more than 500 million users worldwide, with the ambition of generating 3.5 billion dollars in revenues and 280 million cost synergies per year.
But since this announcement, the operation has lost ground due to the British competition authority (Competition and Markets Authority), which is concerned about the consequences of this acquisition for consumers. With this in mind, the regulator launched an investigation in January to determine the impact of the operation on the offer of cybersecurity software offered to the general public.
David Stewart, the boss of the CMA, has given five days to NortonLifeLock to provide him with guarantees, under penalty of launching an in-depth investigation which could frustrate the acquisition. For now, the North American group still hopes to finalize the operation before the end of the second half of 2022.