I’m pleased to announce that we’ve signed an agreement to acquire Thales’ General Purpose Hardware Security Module (GP HSM) business, which has been operating as a separate stand-alone business within Thales since January 2019 under the brand “Entrust.” Thales is divesting this business in order to ensure a strongly competitive market for GP HSM solutions and to finalize the acquisition of Gemalto.

We believe that Entrust — with more than €100m in revenues in 2018 and over 300 employees — is a strong strategic fit with our core focus of enabling trusted identities and secure transactions. GP HSMs are an essential component of Entrust Datacard offerings across our entire portfolio and leverages both cryptography and hardware, two areas of expertise for Entrust Datacard.

We look forward to ensuring this market-leading business — led by chief executive officer Cindy Provin — retains its leadership position in the GP HSMs market while continuing to provide trust, integrity and control to business-critical applications. With the combined exceptional talent of Entrust Datacard and Entrust, the acquisition offers us the ability to develop even more unique products and comprehensive solutions for our customers.

Please refer to the formal announcement here: Entrust Datacard to Acquire Market-Leading General Purpose Hardware Security Module Business from Thales. Subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2019.