Private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC is in early talks to buy security software company McAfee from TPG Capital and Intel Corp (INTC.O), 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 for California-based McAfee in 2011, completed the sale of a 51 percent stake here 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 (IMPV.O) and last month announced the acquisition of another cyber security firm called Veracode from Broadcom Inc (AVGO.O) for $950 million.
Last month, Reuters reported that Thoma Bravo had approached Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) with a takeover offer.
Source: Reuters.com