On May 7, Synopsys announced the sale of its SIG (Software Quality and Security) division to a private equity consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners in a transaction valued at up to $2.1 billion (about 15.139 billion yuan). The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year, and once completed, the business will become a new provider of application security testing software on its own.

Following the closing of the transaction, the existing SIG management team will continue to lead the new independent private company, and the name of the new company will be announced at a future date. For Synopsys, this transaction will allow it to focus more on its core business and take advantage of new growth opportunities.

Sassine Ghazi, president and CEO of Synopsys, said Clearlake and Francisco Partners have extensive experience in software platforms as investors and are ideal partners to drive the growth of the new company. He also noted that silicon and systems engineering are converging as technology research and development teams increasingly take advantage of the AI-driven era of intelligence, which presents huge opportunities for new companies to grow.

The transaction, which has received unanimous approval from Synopsys' Board of directors, is expected to close in the second half of 2024, subject to a number of customary closing conditions, including obtaining necessary regulatory approvals.

Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners, which led the deal, have extensive experience investing in private equity, particularly in the software industry. The two companies previously teamed up to co-invest in Perforce Software, which provides application development tools to enterprise customers including telecom equipment company Motorola Solutions, Toshiba and Seagate. These experienced investors will provide strong support and resources for the development of the new company, laying a solid foundation for its development in the field of application security testing.