The private equity firm Novalpina, owner of the Israeli group NSO at the center of a wiretapping scandal, will be dissolved, AFP learned on Wednesday from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from Les Echos.
"The fund which holds three participations (namely) NSO, the French laboratories XO and the Olympic Entertainment casinos will be managed in extinction by a third international manager who will be formally appointed in the coming weeks", indicated a source close to the company cited by the economic daily.
Pegasus, one scandal too many?
Novalpina had bought in 2019 NSO, known for its spyware Pegasus, at the heart of a global spy scandal.
It would have made it possible to spy on the numbers of at least 180 journalists, 85 human rights activists or even 14 heads of state including French President Emmanuel Macron - which NSO refutes.
The dissolution of Novalpina was officially decided to put an end to an "internal war" between leaders of the London company, according to a relative quoted by Les Echos.
But "the wiretapping scandal may have sounded like too many alarms", adds the newspaper, while the company had been under pressure from NGOs for a long time.
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