AhnLab Establishes Joint Venture with Saudi State-Owned Security Company

AhnLab announced on the 1st that it has signed a joint venture (JV) establishment agreement with SITE (Saudi Information Technology Company), a state-owned cyber security and cloud supply company fully funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Through this agreement, AhnLab and SITE will establish a local joint venture in Saudi Arabia with joint investment (AhnLab 25%, SITE 75%). The establishment is planned to be completed within the first half of this year.

Kang Seok-gyun, CEO of AhnLab (from left), H.E. Majed bin Mohammed Al Mazied, Director of the Saudi Arabian National Cybersecurity Authority, and Saad Alaboudi, CEO of Site, attending the joint venture establishment signing ceremony. Photo by AhnLab

The joint venture (JV) will provide AhnLab's solutions and services, including ▲the cloud and artificial intelligence (AI)-based Software as a Service (SaaS) security threat analysis platform 'AhnLab XDR' ▲network security product suite to public institutions and companies in Saudi Arabia. The scope of solutions and services will be expanded in the future to include generative AI security, Internet of Things (IoT)/Operational Technology (OT) security, and more.

With this joint venture, the two companies plan to expand their cyber security business to the Middle East and North Africa region, including Saudi Arabia's public market customers held by SITE.

Kang Seok-gyun, CEO of AhnLab, said, "The establishment of this joint venture signifies long-term cooperation based on the competitiveness of both companies to grow together in the Middle East region. Through this project, we expect to promote AhnLab's cyber security, cloud, and AI technologies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, while accelerating global sales growth."

Meanwhile, along with the establishment of the joint venture, SITE Ventures, a 100% subsidiary of SITE, will make an investment by acquiring 10% of AhnLab's shares (third-party allotment paid-in capital increase) to strengthen joint business cooperation. The investment amount is approximately KRW 74.4 billion, with the payment scheduled for June 27.