MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Private equity firm Veritas Capital Fund LP of New York has made its third move in just over a year to snag a share in the government IT market by picking up beleaguered Top 100 company MZM Inc. for an undisclosed amount.MZM of Washington has been mired in controversy in recent months over the relationship of its majority owner, Mitchell Wade, with Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.). A grand jury in California is investigating a real estate deal between the pair. MZM is No. 100 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors.Veritas has formed a new company, Athena Innovative Solutions Inc., which will take over MZM's 420 employees, about 85 percent with high-level security clearances, along with the company's assets and contracts.Defense contractor Radiance Technologies Inc. has acquired Open Source Publishing Inc. of Leesburg, Va...Terms of the acquisition are subject to a nondisclosure agreement and were not publicly released, said Eliot Jardines, founder of Open Source, which offers open-source intelligence support services.Under the acquisition, Open Source Publishing becomes the Open Source Intelligence Division of Radiance Technologies, which is in Huntsville, Ala. Jardines will remain with the company as division director.Lockheed Martin Corp.'s U.K. subsidiary will buy Insys Group Ltd. of Ampthill, United Kingdom, a supplier of military communications and weapon systems and advanced analysis services.Terms of the deal, which is expected to close this year, were not disclosed. Insys has about 480 employees and 2004 revenue of between $75 million and $100 million.Lockheed Martin's U.K. Holdings Ltd., London and its Electronic Systems, Bethesda, Md., will manage Insys.Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. acquired Tadpole Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., for an undisclosed amount.Tadpole Computer is a privately held company that provides mobile, secure and battlefield-tested computing platforms for military, government and commercial operations.General Dynamics did not disclose Tadpole's revenue, but the company has about 60 employees and will become part of General Dynamics C4 Systems, Falls Church, Va.Science Applications International Corp. is buying Geo-Centers Inc., an 1,100-employee engineering and professional services firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.SAIC will improve its homeland security and defense capabilities with the purchase of Geo-Centers of Newton, Mass., SAIC Chairman and CEO Ken Dahlberg said. The acquisition is expected to close in September.Geo-Centers provides research and development for chemical and biological weapon detection, infrastructure assessment and protection, life science research, rapid response equipment and support, and sensor systems and integration.BEA Systems Inc. will acquire enterprise portal solution provider Plumtree Software Inc. for about $200 million in cash, the company said.Under the agreement, BEA of San Jose, Calif., will pay $5.50 per share in cash, plus the assumption of outstanding Plumtree options. The transaction is expected to close in the fall of calendar year 2005.Plumtree of San Francisco makes portals solutions that connect work groups, IT systems and business processes. Its portfolio features a cross-platform portal, running on both Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition and .Net. Its government customers include the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Naval Air Systems Command and the Energy Department.