Vitruvian Partners has almost one month to decide whether to go ahead with the deal or not, market sources say.
Axxess Capital put up for sale part of its Bitdefender stake and hired the investment division in London of Deutsche Bank to handle the process. The bidding started in the summer, with two finalists remaining, ZF has found, US-based General Atlantic and Vitruvian Partners, which got the exclusive talks.
Analysts initially valued Bitdefender at EUR500 million to EUR700 million or four to five times the revenue of the entire Bitdefender group. The valuation is down now partly because of the interest of those who reached the data room, according to the latest information available.
Talpes family did not express any intention to sell its 60%.
Vitruvian Partners was established in 2006, has a team of 56 people, manages a EUR2.4 billion fund and has made more than 85 investments so far. Its investments started from as low as EUR25 million at a company valuation of at least EUR75 million and may go to as much as EUR250 million, its website says.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)