Sunday, January 6, 2019

"Former CIA director Petraeus joins KKR backed security firm"

Um, why is private equity backing a "security firm"?
There aren't any assets to strip, or leverage before a bankruptcy bust-out.

From Reuters:
Former United States CIA Director David Petraeus said Thursday he has joined the board of a large cybersecurity company controlled by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR & Co. LP), taking his most prominent role in the private sector.

Petraeus, a KKR partner and head of its global risk assessment, said in an exclusive interview that he was joining Optiv Security because of the increasing importance of hacking threats.

The reconstituted six-member board also includes David DeWalt, who stepped down this year from the board of cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc and previously led McAfee Security through its sale to Intel Corp.

The private equity group KKR bought a dominant stake in Optiv this February. The company has about $2 billion in annual revenue and more than 1,000 employees.

In a joint interview with Reuters, the men said they wanted to expand Optiv’s commercial customer base beyond the 67 percent of the Fortune 500 that it currently serves and deeper into the government, where former general Petraeus pledged to help with his understanding of intelligence and military needs....MORE
At least MI6's former top spook, Sir Richard B. Dearlove, went the traditional somewhat-murky-African-extractive-industry route, but PE backed security companies? That just seems creepy.