McAfee Corp shares fall 7% in Nasdaq debut

(Reuters) – Shares of McAfee Corp fell 7% in their market debut on Thursday, marking a disappointing opening for the cyber security firm after it raised about $620 million in its initial public offering.

The stock opened at $18.60 per share, compared with its IPO price of $20 per share. At the debut price, the company was valued around $8 billion.

McAfee priced its IPO towards the lower end of its targeted range between $19 and $22 per share.

The offering marks a return to public markets for McAfee, which was bought by Intel Corp in 2011.

It was then turned into a joint venture with TPG Capital in a deal which valued the company at $4.2 billion, including debt. Thoma Bravo took a minority stake in McAfee in 2017.

In the first half of 2020, McAfee’s net revenue was $1.4 billion with a net income of $31 million.

“The markets we play in are large, growing and important and we realize there’s a great need for what we bring to the table,” McAfee Chief Executive Officer Peter Leav told Reuters. “We are going to invest in our fast-growing consumer business and in our enterprise businesses, where there’s a need for a broader portfolio.”

The cyber security firm’s IPO comes in the wake of strong market debuts from gaming platform Unity Software Inc and online prescription drug firm GoodRx .

(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru and Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)