By Ezequiel Minaya

Symantec Corp. said Monday that Blue Coat Systems Inc.'s chief operating officer, Michael Fey, will remain in the role after the companies merge.

Last month, Symantec agreed to buy Blue Coat in a $4.65 billion deal. Blue Coat Chief Executive Greg Clark was slated to head Symantec once the deal closes, which is expected sometime before October.

Mr. Fey joined Blue Coat as chief operating officer in 2014. Before that appointment, Mr. Fey served in various executive positions for Intel Security.

Following a rash of high-profile breaches, computer security is now a major topic of discussion in corporate boardrooms. While Symantec is a pioneer in antivirus software that runs on personal computers, Blue Coat's domain is the World Wide Web. The company's technology is used by more than 15,000 companies to block dangerous or inappropriate websites.

The deal is Symantec's largest acquisition since its 2005 purchase of Veritas Software, and the latest in a series of big steps it has taken as Symantec tries to turn around its fortunes in the increasingly competitive market for computer-security products.

In January, Symantec sold off its Veritas data-storage division to Carlyle Group for $7.4 billion. Back in 2005, Symantec had paid more than $10 billion for the company, but the acquisition proved to be an unwieldy distraction.

-- Robert McMillan and Dana Cimilluca contributed to this report

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at Ezequiel.Minaya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 11, 2016 17:46 ET (21:46 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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