About our roundup and rankings

The annual Washington Technology mergers and acquisitions special report rounds up and ranks the top deals of 2009.

The heart of our annual mergers and acquisitions special report is the roundup of all the transactions that closed during 2009. The word “closed” is important to remember because there is at least one notable deal that is not included. Although Xerox’s acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services Inc. was announced during 2009, it did not close until this year. It will be included in next year’s roundup.

The list is compiled for Washington Technology by investment bank Houlihan Lokey. It collected the names of the buyers and sellers in the defense and government services sectors.

We then turn the list over to a group of M&A experts. They evaluate the deals according to their impact on the companies involved and the market, including what the transactions indicated about trends in the sector.

Our experts picked the top deals in nine categories. Some had clear-cut winners; one was a three-way tie; others had runners-up.

Feel free to comment on our choices below.

Our panel of experts:

  • John Allen, BB&T Capital Markets/Windsor Group.
  • Don Blair, Raymond James.
  • Charles Chappell, Caliber Consulting LLC.
  • Larry Davis, Aronson Capital Partners.
  • William Farmer, Lazard Ltd.
  • John Hagan, BB&T Capital Markets/Windsor Group.
  • Bob Kipps, KippsDeSanto & Co.
  • William Mutryn, Holland & Knight.
  • Tom Peltier, Stifel Nicolaus.
  • Robert Rubin, Stronghold Advisors.
  • John Song, Houlihan Lokey.
  • Jean Stack, Houlihan Lokey.