Anteon Registers For IPO

For the second time in a month, a firm focused on the government market has decided to join the ranks of publicly traded companies.

Anteon International Corp. is looking to raise up to $230 million in an initial public offering of stock, according to the company's Dec. 21 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
ManTech International Corp. of Fairfax, Va., filed for its IPO Nov. 23.

In Anteon's filing, the company said it will raise about $46.5 million to repay debt and for working capital. The rest of the $230 million will go to current stockholders who are selling shares.

The number of shares to be sold was not specified in the registration, nor was a share price.

Anteon, a systems integrator based in Fairfax, Va., currently serves more than 600 federal agency clients, as well as state and foreign governments. Through Sept. 30, the company estimated it is the prime contractor on 90 percent of its contracts.

The company's pro forma revenue for the first nine months of 2001 was $525.6 million, 21.7 percent higher than the same period a year ago.

Anteon has been backed by the investment group Caxton-Iseman Capital Inc. of New York. Frederick Iseman, Anteon's chairman, will continue to hold a controlling interest in the company, with other officers holding much smaller blocs.

"Anteon has had an institutional investor for going on five years now," said Tom Meagher, vice president of equity research, BB&T Capital Markets, Richmond, Va. "I think they would have held on to [the company] if 9-11 hadn't happened."

Meagher said business prospects for companies in the federal technology marketplace are among the very few bright spots in the economy at the moment. Companies such as Anteon and ManTech are showing real growth in sales and are making money.

"With what's happening with all the companies in [the government sector], valuations are at all-time highs, so it makes sense that they're looking at it," he said. "You always want to go out when you can get the biggest bang for the buck."

The underwriting group for Anteon is being led by Goldman Sachs & Co. and will include Bear Stearns & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch & Co.