French aerospace and defense tech giant Thales has reached an agreement to acquire Imperva from private equity firm Thoma Bravo for USD 3.6 billion. The deal is expected to close in early 2024.

Imperva provides a range of data and application security solutions and services, including web application firewalls (WAFs), API security, DDoS, advanced bot protection, and data discovery, data classification, governance, and monitoring. Founded in Israel in 2002, Imperva went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011, before being acquired by Thoma Bravo in 2019 for USD 2.1 billion. The company is headquartered in the US and operates in 180 countries.

Thales says the acquisition is part of a move to expand further into the cybersecurity space, and offer a global integrated portfolio focusing on data and application security. The acquisition represents Thales’ first foray into application security, while Imperva’s capabilities will bolster the firm’s existing data security offering. Thales will also benefit from inheriting Imperva’s existing global customer base. The combined cybersecurity business is expected to generate over USD 2.65 billion in revenues, with Imperva contributing USD 500 million.

Analyst QuickTake: Thales has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, snapping up several cybersecurity players including managed services firms Excellium and S21sec in 2022. The firm has also announced its intention to acquire Australian cybersecurity startup Tesserent , a deal expected to close this year.