In July, we announced that we signed an agreement to acquire AVG. We have now acquired a majority stake in the company, completing the initial tender offer for all of the outstanding ordinary shares of AVG Technologies. That means we will operate as a single company as of Monday, October 3, 2016 and can officially welcome AVG business users to Avast! I have been leading Avast’s SMB business since 2015, and will drive the integration of the two company’s business divisions. With an existing SMB business and reseller base that was many times larger than Avast, we will be integrating Avast’s program into the AVG business program.
The acquisition will overnight vault Avast into a leadership position in the SMB security market. Our gain will also be your gain. By combining the strengths of Avast and AVG under one company, you can now look forward to a stronger threat detection network powered by the largest install base (by far) of any competitor. The new Avast now protects more than 400 million mobile and PC users worldwide, each of which acts as a sensor. Whenever one of these sensors encounters a new threat, the threat is sent to our Threat Labs for analysis and a detection is created to protect the rest of our network. This means your business is already being better protected from the latest threats.
Avast will continue to offer and support both the AVG and Avast branded products for the foreseeable future (more details about this can be found here). We want our customers to be reassured that whether you use an AVG product or an Avast product, we will continue to have experts support you. We are nothing without our customers and partners like you, who helped us get to where we are today.
We are thrilled about what the future will bring and are looking forward to finding new ways to add value for you, our customers. We are looking forward to the innovative products this acquisition will produce and the momentum it will create in the market.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “should,” “will,” “expect,” “are confident that,” “objective,” “projection,” “forecast,” “goal,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “effort,” “target,” “would” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terms. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements.
These factors include risks and uncertainties related to, among other things: general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which Avast and AVG operate; the uncertainty of regulatory approvals; the parties’ ability to satisfy the conditions to the contemplated tender offer, AVG’s delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and suspension of AVG‘s reporting obligations under the Exchange Act and to consummate the transactions and their plans described in this press release; and AVG’s performance and maintenance of important business relationships.
Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in AVG’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including AVG’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and neither Avast nor AVG assumes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
This press release does not constitute an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities of AVG. The solicitation and offer to purchase ordinary shares of AVG is being made pursuant to a tender offer statement on Schedule TO, including an Offer to Purchase, a related letter of transmittal and certain other tender offer documents, filed by Avast with the SEC on July 29, 2016 (as subsequently amended, the “Tender Offer Statement”). AVG filed a solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the tender offer with the SEC on July 29, 2016 (as subsequently amended, the “Solicitation/Recommendation Statement”). AVG shareholders are urged to read the Tender Offer Statement and Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, as they may be amended from time to time, as well as any other relevant documents filed with the SEC, carefully and in their entirety because they will contain important information that AVG shareholders should consider before making any decision regarding tendering their securities. The Tender Offer Statement and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement are available for free at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by AVG will be available free of charge on AVG’s website at investors.avg.com.