Dell Close To $2 Billion Deal To Sell RSA Security To STG Partners: Report

Technology-focused private equity firm STG Partners was founded in 2002 and moved into the cybersecurity arena in April 2019 with the purchase of network modeling and risk scoring platform RedSeal.

Dell Technologies is near completing a more than $2 billion deal to sell RSA Security to private equity firm STG Partners, according to The Wall Street Journa l.

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell could announce the deal to sell Bedford, Mass.-based RSA as soon as Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Neither Dell, RSA or STG immediately responded to a request for comment, although a headline on the news section of the STG website (with a link to a different press release) indicates the deal is being announced today.

Dell’s stock is up $0.12 (0.23 percent) to $53 per share in premarket trading Tuesday. Bloomberg first reported in November that Dell was conducting early stage conversations about selling RSA Security, and was hoping to fetch at least $1 billion from the sale, including debt.

[Related: Dell Investigating Sale Of RSA Security For At Least $1 Billion: Report]

Dell gained control over RSA as part of its $60 billion purchase of Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC in 2016. EMC initially bought RSA for $2.1 billion back in 2006. RSA serves 30,000 customers ranging from banks to consumer-good makers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based STG (Symphony Technology Group) was founded in 2002 and said it’s focused on fueling innovative software, data and analytics market leaders in the midmarket. It moved into the cybersecurity arena in April 2019 with the purchase of network modeling and risk scoring platform RedSeal.

RSA has offerings spread across several disparate areas of cybersecurity. These include RSA Archer for governance, risk and compliance; RSA NetWitness for security incident event management and threat detection and response; RSA SecurID for identity and access management; and RSA Fraud & Risk Intelligence. The company is well known for its SecurID authentication tokens.

RSA has significantly grown its presence in the channel over the past half-decade, with partners going from accounting for 35 percent of RSA’s business in 2014 to 70 percent of the company’s business in 2018, the company told CRN in 2018. This was achieved largely through the acquisition of primarily direct companies and subsequent introduction of their products to RSA’s channel program.

RSA increased the number of partners at its top two levels—Titanium and Platinum—by 25 percent between 2018 and 2019, according to a CRN 2019 Channel Chiefs submission. These partners are enjoying both more revenue as well as additional rebate opportunities, RSA said at the time.

The company has seen some turnover atop its channel organization, with global channel strategy veteran Brian Breton taking the reins in February leading RSA’s Americas channel sales operation. Breton replaced Faraz Siraj, who spent nearly two years spearheading RSA’s channels and distribution efforts in the Americas. Siraj is now an advisor at FKS Channel Consulting, according to LinkedIn.

Under Siraj, RSA rolled out updates to its channel program in February 2018 that rewarded incremental growth with existing clients, incumbency renewal and partners with strong marketing proposals. The enhancements also included a managed services program for its RSA NetWitness offering that provided MSPs with technical resources and a more flexible business model.