Thomson Geer has assisted Australian boutique cybersecurity firm eSecure in its acquisition by leading Australian platform-enabled secure network and digital infrastructure provider Orro.

The acquisition reflects strong and growing investor interest in the cybersecurity sector as companies and governments battle to prevent data breaches and increasingly sophisticated hacking of their digital systems.

Established by founder and controlling shareholder Colin Boyce, eSecure specialises in managed security services and penetration testing. eSecure operates from offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and London. Its clients include a wide range of large, well known businesses.

The Thomson Geer team, led by partner Matthew Reynolds, handled the entire sale process for eSecure – identifying potential buyers, running due diligence, managing negotiations and closing the deal – including all legal aspects of the transaction.

“Cybersecurity is a sector attracting intense interest from investors at the moment,” Matthew said.

“With laws around data protection and privacy, as well as the reputational damage that can happen from a cyber breach, demand for cybersecurity services are only likely to grow. Corporations need to know their systems are protected from cyber attack.”

eSecure’s Colin Boyce said he and his team was excited to be joining Orro.

“Being part of Orro will enable us to extend our cybersecurity service offerings to both our existing customers and the Orro extended customer base. With the backing and support of Orro, we look forward to further extending our service offering and competing for larger multiyear services contracts,” he said.

According to research firm Gartner, Australian organisations will spend more than A$4.9 billion on enterprise information security and risk management products and services this year. Within that investment, security services are expected to grow by 7.3%, accounting for $3.2 billion of local spend.

As well as Matthew, the Thomson Geer team included special counsel Dan Stumm and lawyer Ashley Zhang.

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