AhnLab to form joint venture with Saudi SITE

AhnLab Inc., South Korea's information security solutions company, announced on Monday that it signed an agreement to establish a joint venture (JV) with Saudi Arabian Information Technology Company (SITE).

SITE is a security and cloud service national enterprise fully funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The new JV’s launch is scheduled for the first half of this year. AhnLab will own a 25% stake, while SITE holds the majority of 75%.

This collaboration aims to deliver advanced security solutions and services to public institutions and businesses in Saudi Arabia.

Among the offerings will be AhnLab XDR, a cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) based software as a service (SaaS) for threat analysis, alongside a suite of network security products.

Plans are in place to further expand the range of solutions and services to include generative AI security and IoT/OT security in the future.

The joint venture aims to expand both companies' cybersecurity business across the Middle East and North Africa, leveraging SITE’s robust clientele in the Saudi public market.

Furthermore, to reinforce this cooperative venture, SITE Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SITE, will proceed with an investment to acquire a 10% stake in AhnLab through a third-party allocation paid-in capital increase method.

The investment amount is 74.4 billion won ($55.34 million) with the payment scheduled for June 27.

Write to Kyung-Ju Kang at qurasoha@hankyung.com