Verint Systems To Split Into Two Separate Companies

(RTTNews) - Verint Systems Inc. (VRNT), Wednesday announced plan to separate into two independent companies. Shares of the company jumped 12% on the news.

One of the companies will consist of Verint's customer engagement business, and one will consist of its cyber intelligence business. Verint expects to complete the separation shortly after the end of Verint's next fiscal year ending January 31, 2021.

"With our customer engagement business approaching $1 billion in annual revenue and our cyber intelligence business approaching $500 million in annual revenue, we believe the two independent, publicly traded companies will both benefit from the separation and be well positioned to pursue their own strategies, drive opportunities to accelerate growth and extend their market leadership," said Dan Bodner, Verint CEO.

Verint intends to implement the separation through a pro-rata distribution of common stock of a new entity that will hold the cyber intelligence business and expects the distribution to qualify as tax free to Verint shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

VRNT closed Wednesday's trading at $47.81, up $0.25 or 0.53%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $6.19 or 12.95% in the after-hours trading.