Cybersecurity company Proofpoint agreed on Thursday to buy data security firm Varonis Systems in an all-cash deal valued at about $6.3 billion, Reuters reported. Proofpoint is owned by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

Varonis shareholders will receive $49.75 a share in cash, the companies said. That is a 52% premium to the stock's close on June 22, the day before talk of a possible sale first surfaced, according to Reuters. The offer values Varonis' equity at $5.71 billion, and its shares rose about 2.7% in extended trading, Reuters said.

Reuters had reported in September that Proofpoint was in talks to buy Varonis. In June, media reports that Varonis was weighing a sale after takeover interest from private equity firms sent its shares up about 30%, the news agency said. Thoma Bravo bought Proofpoint in 2021 in a take-private deal that valued it at about $12.3 billion.

"Our mission is to secure AI and the data that powers it. By joining forces with Proofpoint, we can achieve this mission faster than ever," Varonis co-founder and CEO Yaki Faitelson said, according to Reuters.

Varonis, based in Miami, sells tools that classify data on cloud storage systems and track employee behavior. It employs about 2,800 people, about 1,000 of them at its development center in Israel, the Israeli business paper Globes reported. Its main shareholders are institutional investors such as BlackRock and Vanguard, Globes said.

Globes said the price is about 53 times Varonis' free cash flow and about 8.4 times its revenue for the 12 months through June. The price is about 240% above the company's valuation at its stock market debut 11 years ago, but it may mean a loss for investors who bought near the stock's 2021 peak, Globes reported. It is the second Israeli cybersecurity company to agree to leave the stock market this year, after CyberArk's $25 billion sale to Palo Alto Networks, the paper said.

Globes said going private may make it easier for Varonis to adapt to artificial intelligence, even at some cost to profits, as it shifts customers to cloud subscriptions.

Varonis said it will report third-quarter results on Nov. 3 but will not hold an earnings call, Reuters reported.

What we know: Proofpoint will pay $49.75 a share in cash, and the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.
What we don't: Whether regulators or Varonis shareholders will raise objections before the deal closes.