Thales completes USD 5.39 billion acquisition of Gemalto

French group Thales have closed the acquisition of digital security provider Gemalto for USD 5.39 billion. As per the terms of the deal, Thales will be expanding their operations across key strategic markets such as Latin America, Northern Asia, South East Asia, India and North America.

According to Thales, enterprises globally depend on the cloud to accelerate their workloads. They say that these enterprises need to secure business sensitive information that is stored in the cloud.

In addition to sensitive data, Thales claim that enterprises also leverage the cloud to run applications with the help of AI, IoT and Big Data. They say that these technologies help enterprises compete globally by providing products and services that augment cloud connectivity, network management and data processing.

By acquiring Gemalto, Thales believe that they will be able to secure the cloud, IoT and AI services of enterprises without any hiccups. They say that this acquisition will significantly strengthen their industrial presence across 68 countries.

Thales claim that the Gemalto-Thales combination will fortify their cybersecurity product portfolio, which will now include biometry and big data security under a wider umbrella. They further added that with this acquisition they will consolidate their foothold in banking, telecom, defence, IT and government sectors.

Industry experts claim that the acquisition will allow Thales to boost its position as a security provider in the global cloud market. With this deal, one can expect the cloud security race to intensify, following the acquisition of ConnectWise by equity firm Thoma Bravo for USD 1.5 billion.