(Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), an investor in Cofense Inc, is in advanced talks to take over the U.S. cyber security firm, after a U.S. national security panel asked buyout firm Pamplona Capital Management LLP to sell its stake, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which scrutinizes deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security concerns, has not disclosed why it asked Pamplona to sell its 47% stake in Leesburg, Virginia-based Cofense, which helps protect email users from phishing attacks.
The development represents one of the rare, high-profile examples of CFIUS undoing a deal that had already been completed.
A major investor in Pamplona’s private equity funds is Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, who was included in an “oligarchs’ watchlist” by the U.S. Treasury Department that could have resulted in sanctions against him because of his potential ties to the Kremlin.
However, unlike other Russian oligarchs such as Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, Fridman has not been hit by U.S. sanctions.
“The process remains ongoing and we are working diligently towards a solution,” Pamplona said in a statement, declining to comment further.
Representatives for BlackRock, Cofense, Fridman and the U.S. Treasury, which chairs CFIUS, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pamplona decided last October to launch an auction process to sell its stake after CFIUS approached it. Pamplona took the decision 10 months after acquiring Cofense with BlackRock, and other investors, including Adam Street Partners and Telstra Ventures, in a $400 million deal.
BlackRock, which owns a 30% stake in Cofense, is the front-runner to buy
