McAfee has returned to the public markets with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that raised $620 million.

The cyber security company had priced its IPO at $20 a share, aiming to raise $740 million from the sale of 37 million shares, but its stock opened at $18.60 per share yesterday – down seven per cent.

The money will go towards reducing its $4.7 billion debt pile.

This is the company’s second listing, as it was already a public entity before being bought by Intel for $7.7 billion in 2011, and then spun back out in 2017 to TPG Capital. The chip-making giant decided to keep the name of its controversial founder John McAfee, although he hasn’t been involved since 1994.

Earlier this month, he was arrested in Spain while boarding a plane to Turkey, over tax evasion charges in the United States. This followed his detention in July last year, after Dominican Republic Armed Forces boarded his yacht in Puerto Plata.

McAfee the man is wanted by over tax evasion charges – to which he responded that he hadn’t filed tax returns for eight years because “taxation is illegal”.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also brought civil charges against McAfee, alleging he made over $23.1 million in undisclosed compensation from false and misleading cryptocurrency recommendations.

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