Avast completes acquisition of security company AVG

Avast has completed its acquisition of competitor AVG. The companies have been working together since Monday. For the time being, nothing will change in the support of products. Avast will continue to create and support both Avast and AVG services, the company promises.

Avast promises support for all products and services from both companies “for the foreseeable future.” Although the takeover has already been completed, Avast does not yet own all the shares of the listed AVG. It currently owns more than 85 percent. The offer to shareholders expires in a week and a half.

Nevertheless, the acquisition was completed at the end of September and both companies continued together as of Monday. Avast announced this summer that it wanted to acquire AVG, for almost 1.2 billion euros.

With the acquisition, the total number of devices with Avast products grows to 400 million, of which 160 million are mobile devices, Avast reports. This enables the company to better detect different forms of malware and adapt its products accordingly. In addition, with the acquisition, the security company wants to ‘grow technically and geographically’ and focus on new markets, such as the internet-of-things.

Both Avast and AVG are of Czech origin and have been around since 1988 and 1997 respectively. The companies are known for their free antivirus software, of which there are also paid versions. AVG itself acquired the Norwegian security company Norman in 2014.