Avast Shareholders Approve Merger With NortonLifeLock

Avast Headquarters

The expected merger of cybersecurity companies Avast and NortonLifeLock will become a reality. One of the last conditions was the approval of the merger by the shareholders of the Czech company, which has now happened. Two weeks ago, the merger was approved by an American company. The two companies agreed to a merger in August, the Americans offered up to $ 8.6 billion (up to 189 billion crowns) for Avast, the specific amount depends on how the transaction is completed.

86 percent of shareholders, who represent 94 percent of the total volume, voted in favor of the merger with the American company. Opponents of the merger thus held together only over five percent. Representatives of the British Schroders Fund have previously stated that they are against the merger of cyber links under negotiated conditions. In the summer, the British fund held over six percent in Avast, a larger volume of shares in Avast was held only by its founders. 

The Czech-American connection is not disputed by the regulator in the United States either. After the summer announcement of the transaction, Avast’s director Ondřej Vlček assumed that the formal merger process, at the end of which there will be, for example, a new common name, which has not yet been agreed, should take nine to ten months. It could be completely finished in June next year. 

“Transactions have to go through all regulatory approvals, in a number of countries where these companies operate. For this reason, we expect the transaction to close itself sometime in the middle of next year, until then both companies will operate independently, “said Vlček at the time. 

Vlček also announced in the summer that the merger of the two companies will create a company that will be one of the twenty largest software companies in the world. The current shareholders of Avast will own 14 to 26 percent of the shares in it.

Avast is a leading provider of security software and has more than 435 million users. It has gained a large number of supporters thanks to its model, in which it provides basic protection for free and charges for more advanced security.