The top deals of 2008

Best overall deal:
Carlyle Group’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Booz Allen Hamilton

Best dealmaker:
Boeing Co., which closed five acquisitions after being out of the mergers and acquisitions game for several years
Runner-up: QinetiQ Group plc, which closed six acquisitions

Best deal involving a small business:
Stanley Inc.’s acquisition of Oberon Associates Inc.
Runner-up: MacAuley Brown Inc.’s acquisition of Gray Research Inc.

Best private equity deal:
New Mountain Capital’s acquisition of Camber Corp.
Runner-up: Veritas Capital’s acquisition of CherryRoad GT Inc.

Best deal involving a midtier company:
Serco North America’s acquisition of SI International
Runner-up: New Mountain/Camber acquisition

Best deal involving a large company:
BAE Systems plc’s acquisition of Detica plc for more than $1 billion
Runner-up: Cobham plc’s acquisition of Sparta Inc.

Best defense-related deal:
A series of acquisitions by BAE Systems
Runner-up: Stanley/Oberon transaction

Best civilian agency-related deal:
General Dynamics Corp.’s acquisition of ViPS Inc.

Best intelligence-related deal:
QinetiQ’s acquisition of Dominion Technology Resources Inc.

Best deal involving a foreign buyer:
Serco’s acquisition of SI International
Runner-up: Cobham/Sparta acquisition

About our list
Investment bank Houlihan Lokey compiled the annual mergers and acquisitions roundup for Washington Technology by collecting the names of the buyers and sellers in the defense and government services sectors.

We turned the list over to a group of M&A experts who evaluated the deals for their impact on the companies involved, the market and overall trends. Some categories had clear-cut winners, so only one deal is listed. Although other categories had a winner, a second deal was close on its heels, so we named a runner-up. Feel free to comment on our choices at www.washingtontechnology.com.

Our panel of experts:
John Allen, BB&T Capital Markets/Windsor Group
Don Blair, Raymond James
Bill Farmer, Lazard Ltd.
Bob Kipps, KippsDeSanto and Co.
Tom Peltier, Stifel Nicolaus
Robert Rubin, Stronghold Advisors, an affiliate of JPB Enterprises.
Paul Serotkin, Venture Management Inc.
Jean Stack, Houlihan Lokey