The era of ultralow interest rates fostered a leveraged buyout boom and a desperate hunger for yield among investors. The private equity industry satisfied both itches, spending trillions of dollars to acquire companies while in more recent years also supplying much of the lending for buyouts.

A successful takeover of Trend Micro would rank as one of the world's biggest leveraged buyouts in recent months and signal that private equity dealmaking is starting to bounce back, after the pace of debt-fueled buyouts was hit hard by interest rate hikes from central banks to fight inflation in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Several private equity firms are competing to buy Japanese cybersecurity provider Trend Micro Inc., Reuters reported today. If it materializes, the deal could mark one of the largest enterprise technology acquisitions in recent memory.

Bain Capital, Advent International, EQT AB, and KKR are among private equity firms exploring a potential acquisition of Japanese cybersecurity giant Trend Micro (OTC:TMICY), which has a market value of 1.