(Reuters) - Private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC is in early talks to buy security software company McAfee from TPG Capital and Intel Corp (O:INTC), a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Talks are at an early stage and there is no guarantee they will lead to a deal, the source said. The talks were reported earlier by CNBC.
Intel and TPG declined to comment, while Thoma Bravo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Intel, which paid $7.7 billion (£6.12 billion) for California-based McAfee in 2011, completed the sale of a 51 percent stake https://www.reuters.com/article/us-intel-mcafee-sale/intel-to-spin-out-security-unit-sell-stake-in-business-to-tpg-idUSKCN11D2MY in the company to TPG at a $4.2 billion enterprise value last year.
Thoma Bravo has been seeking to rapidly consolidate the cyber security sector.
In October, it announced a $2.1 billion acquisition of Imperva Inc (O:IMPV) and last month announced the acquisition of another cyber security firm called Veracode from Broadcom Inc (O:AVGO) for $950 million.
Last month, Reuters reported that Thoma Bravo had approached Symantec Corp (O:SYMC) with a takeover offer.