Windfall in sale of Sophos stake

The investment by Apax Partners will net the founders of the business a reported 197m windfall.

Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer, who launched the company in 1985, have agreed the deal to sell off a large part of their combined stake of 60 per cent, keeping a minority interest in the Abingdon, Oxfordshire-based firm.

The pair, who met at Oxford University while studying for their PhDs, are thought to have made an initial investment of around 50,000 when they set the company up.

Sophos has since grown to have 1,600 staff in offices across the world and 10 per cent of the market.

It has more than 100 million users in over 150 countries and clients include Tesco, Panasonic, Heinz and Toys R Us.

The firm provides businesses with software to protect against viruses and spyware as well as firewalls and data leak prevention. Revenues for the 12 months to March 31 were above 171m, compared with 140m the previous year.

Mr Hruska said: "This transaction is good for Sophos, it is good for the employee shareholders, it is good for the investors and yes, it is good for the founders. The computer security field continues to expand with the quantity of threats increasing rapidly."

He said prospects for international growth were "excellent" and would continue to be pursued "vigorously".