Reuters reports that Israeli spyware vendor Paragon, established by former Israeli intelligence officers, was disclosed by local news outlets to have been bought by major U.S. private equity firm AE Industrial Partners.
AE Industrial Partners' purchase of Paragon was reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz to have been closed on Friday for $500 million but financial news outlet Calcalist detailed that the acquisition agreement, which will combine Paragon and Virginia-based cybersecurity firm Red Lattice, amounts to $900 million. While both U.S. and Israeli officials were reported to have signed off on the acquisition, no confirmation on the agreement has been provided by the White House and Israel's Defence Ministry, as well as AE Industrial Partners, Paragon's U.S. subsidiary, and Red Lattice. Such a development comes months after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Paragon's U.S. subsidiary entered a $2 million contract and a year after President Joe Biden sought to combat malicious spyware use in an executive order.
