Security firm Optiv files for IPO, seeks to raise $100 million

Cybersecurity company Optiv Security, majority owned by Blackstone Group, filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of its common stock on Friday.
The company set a nominal fundraising target of $100 million in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing showed that both Optiv and its shareholders were offering shares in the IPO, but did not disclose the number of shares being sold or their expected price.
Optiv was created when cyber security companies Accuvant and FishNet Security merged in 2015. Blackstone made a majority investment in Accuvant in 2014.
On a pro forma basis, the company posted a loss of $5.7 million on revenue of $643.8 million in the nine

Automobile technicians decry multiple taxations, embark on warning strike in Niger

The Niger State chapter of the Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association, on Friday embarked on a two-day warning strike in protest against alleged multiple taxation on its members by the state government.
According to its Chairman, Ayuba A-Oluobor, the taxes imposed on the technicians “have become simply unbearable”.
A-Oluobor told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Minna that the levies were “so many and heavy”, making it impossible for members to break even.
“We pay for business premises, development levy, Local Government levy, sanitation levy and now registration and certification levy,” he fumed.
He explained that the association was not against the payment of taxes, but that members were paying more than the money accruing to them from their trade.
The association’s chairman said that the levy in contention, registration and certification of business, was recently imposed on the association by the Vehicle Inspection Office of the Ministry of Works.