IT security company Symantec Corporation to acquire Clearwell Systems for $390 million on Friday announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Clearwell Systems, an eDiscovery company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Symantec will acquire Clearwell for a purchase price of approximately $ 390 million, net of Clearwell’s existing cash balance of approximately $20 million, Symantec said in a statement.

“As information continues to grow at unprecedented rates, the biggest challenge for customers is to protect, manage and back-up this information, as well as have the ability to categorise and discover it efficiently,” said Symantec Senior Vice-President, Information Management Group, Mr Deepak Mohan in a statement.

Symantec expects this transaction to be one-and-a-half cents dilutive to non-GAAP earnings per share in the 2012 fiscal. The transaction is expected to be accretive starting in fiscal year 2013.

“The acquisition of Clearwell’s electronic discovery solution will further increase Symantec’s ability to get the right information, to the right people, at the right time, while reducing overall legal review costs and limiting risk,” Mr Mohan added.

eDiscovery solutions include services like creating and managing archives as well as providing back-up of files on computers.

The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to close in the September quarter.

This acquisition will expand Symantec’s addressable market opportunity in the eDiscovery software market.

According to research firm Gartner, the eDiscovery software market is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 14 per cent and is projected to reach $1.7 billion by 2014, the statement said.

Upon close of the acquisition, Clearwell will join the Information Management Group led by Mr Mohan.

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