Top 100 firms rely on M&A to fuel growth
By
Nick Wakeman
Of the 99 deals that closed during 2010, 37 involved companies on the Top 100 list. Who were the big dealmakers?
Companies on Washington Technology's Top 100 list were the most active group of acquirers in 2010, making deals to enter new markets, add new capabilities and move up in size and scale.
Several even shed business units to streamline operations or comply with the government's increased focus on organizational conflicts of interest.
According to Washington Technology’s 2010 M&A roundup, 99 deals were completed last year. On that list, 21 Top 100 companies made 37 acquisitions. Nine Top 100 companies sold portions of their business.
CGI Federal’s acquisition of Stanley Inc., ranked No. 44 on the Top 100, was picked as the top single deal of the year. The $1 billion deal brought CGI, ranked at No. 82, much coveted customers in the defense and intelligence market and new capabilities, particularly in the business process outsourcing arena.
On the seller side, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp. both made deals to divest business units to comply with organizational conflicts of interest rules. Lockheed sold its Enterprise Integration Group to Veritas Capital for $815 million. It is now called the SI Organization.
CSC sold its Mission Solutions Engineering unit to Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.
Several companies on the Top 100 made multiple acquisitions in 2010, including Boeing Co. (2), CACI International (3), CSC (2), Cubic Corp. (3), ITT Corp. (2), ManTech International (3), SAIC (5), and SRA (3).
Experts and company executives tell Washington Technology that merger and acquisition activity is expected to continue through out 2011.