Orange Acquires SecureLink, Creates Massive MSSP -

Orange is acquiring SecureLink, one of Europe's largest independent MSSPs offering cybersecurity consulting as well as managed detection and response (MDR) services. The deal's valuation is €515 million -- or about US$577 million. The deal is expected to close in late Q2 or in Q3 2019.

SecureLink, based in the Netherlands, has customer reach across Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Denmark and Norway. This is Orange's second major MSSP acquisition in recent months. The company earlier this year purchased SecureData, the UK’s largest independent cybersecurity company.

Armed with both acquisitions, Orange Business Services is emerging as a dominant MSSP force across Europe. The combined businesses generated security revenues of €600 million PF (or about US$672 million) in 2018.

Orange Acquires SecureLink: Details

Among the deal highlights:

The deal's valuation is €515 million -- or about US$577 million.
SecureLink's revenue was €248 million in 2018 -- or about US$278 million.
Securelink has 660 employees and served over 2,100 customers in 2018.
The combination with Orange will have 1,800 cybersecurity employees.

In addition to MSSP and MDR services, SecureLink offers:

24/7 security operations centers (SOCs) and associated service desks;
Value-added reselling of security software and hardware solutions.

Orange Acquires SecureLink: Executive Perspectives

Hugues Foulon, executive director of Cybersecurity at Orange, said:

“Cybersecurity is a growing priority for companies of all sizes, and we believe the two most important success factors are Scale and Proximity. Scale because today's threats are global, complex, and require matching protection capabilities. Proximity because in the global IT world, you want a trusted local partner to secure your most strategic assets. With the acquisition of SecureData and SecureLink, Orange has the highest scale to anticipate and fend off attacks, as well as local defense teams in all the main European markets, positioning the combined organisation as the go-to defense specialist.

Foulon also tipped his hat to Orange and SecureLink executives, saying he looked forward to a team effort on security.

SecureLink CEO Thomas Fetten added:

“We have been very impressed by the ambition and successful development of Orange Cyberdefense over the past few years, and are very excited to build a pan-European leader of cybersecurity together. Orange Cyberdefense, SecureData and SecureLink are highly complementary and share a common vision for the sector, and the combined organisation will be in a phenomenal position to address the needs of our customers, partners and employees.”