VeriSign to Sell Network Solutions

VeriSign, Inc, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell the Network Solutions business unit to Pivotal Private Equity. Under the terms of the agreement, VeriSign will receive approximately $100 million, consisting of $60 million in cash and a $40 million senior subordinated note. VeriSign will also retain a 15% equity stake in Network Solutions. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter.

When VeriSign acquired Network Solutions in 2000, it obtained two distinct businesses:

The customer-facing Registrar business is the world’s leading provider of domain name registrations. The Registrar, which re-assumed the Network Solutions name in January of this year, constitutes the current Network Solutions business that is being sold.

The Registry business that is the backbone of the global .com and .net domain name infrastructure currently handles over 10 billion interactions per day, remains with VeriSign as a critical component of its business. This Registry business was recently renamed VeriSign Naming and Directory Services and is a core piece of VeriSign’s Internet Services Group.

“We believe that this transaction will strategically position VeriSign to focus exclusively on our core mission of providing critical infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunication networks, while allowing Network Solutions to pursue its own independent strategy in the web presence market.” said Stratton Sclavos, Chairman and CEO of VeriSign.

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