By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- NortonLifeLock stock (NASDAQ:NLOK) was up 1.5% in Wednesday’s premarket trading as the company signed a deal to buy anti-virus solutions provider Avast at an equity value between $8.1 billion and $8.6 billion.
Avast (LON:AVST) stock was up 2.4% in London trading.
Under the terms of the merger, Avast shareholders will be entitled to receive a combination of cash consideration and newly issued shares in NortonLifeLock.
Demand for digital security products has boomed in the last 15-18 months as a blended of office-home life prompted increased demand to protect devices from viruses and cyber-attacks.
NortonLifeLock expects the merger to result in cost savings of $280 million.
The new company will serve more than 500 million users including around 40 million direct customers.
The combined company will be dual headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, and Tempe, Arizona, U.S.