KKR to buy majority stake in cybersecurity firm Optiv from Blackstone

(Reuters) - Private equity firm KKR & Co (KKR.N) said on Tuesday it would acquire a majority stake in cybersecurity company Optiv Security Inc, which is majority owned by Blackstone Group LP (BX.N).

Blackstone will maintain a minority interest in Optiv, which in November had filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering.

Optiv said its management would also continue to hold a minority stake in the company and said that other selling shareholders included Investcorp and Sverica.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Denver, Colorado-based Optiv was created in 2015 from the merger of cybersecurity companies FishNet Security and Accuvant, in which Blackstone made a majority investment in 2014.

Optiv filed for an IPO last month, with a nominal fundraising target of $100 million.

KKR and Optiv did not say what impact, if any, their deal would have on the IPO plans.

Goldman Sachs & Co and Morgan Stanley & Co LLC are Optiv's financial advisers, while Jefferies LLC is advising KKR.

(Reporting by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)