Data Protection Services Firm Carbonite Considers a Sale

Scott Deveau, Kiel Porter and Liana Baker (Bloomberg) -- Carbonite Inc., a provider of data protection services, is exploring a sale after receiving takeover interest, according to people familiar with the matter. Its shares rose.

The Boston-based company is working with a financial adviser, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. It has drawn interest from private equity, the people said.

It is early in the process, no decision has been made and Carbonite could opt to remain independent, they said.

A representative for Carbonite declined to comment.

The news sent the stock surging as much as 24%, the biggest intraday advance since 2014. It was trading up 19% to $15.39 at 2:31 p.m. in New York Friday, giving the the company a market value of about $533 million.

Carbonite’s shares fell sharply in July after it cut its revenue forecast for the year and announced Chief Executive Officer Mohamad Ali had decided to step down to take a job running International Data Group Inc. That followed another sell-off in February amid investor concerns about the debt it was taking on to fund its purchase of Webroot Inc. The company’s shares had sunk about 70% in the past year through Thursday.

The company offers data backup, disaster recovery and other services to people and businesses, deriving most of its revenue from subscription fees, according to its website.