PAE swaps out private equity ownership

PAE has completed its private equity swap with Platinum Equity closing its acquisition of the company from Lindsay Goldberg.

Lindsay Goldberg took PAE out of Lockheed Martin in 2011 when the defense giant decided to divest the business.

Five years is about the optimum time for a private equity firm to buy and hold a property. But Lindsay Goldberg didn’t just buy and hold; they used PAE as a platform for more acquisitions as it broadened its business base.

Acquisitions over the last five years included the Applied Technology Division from Computer Sciences Corp., the Global Security & Solutions business from USIS and A-T Solutions.

The deals brought new capabilities, customers and increased scale to PAE.

Terms of the deal with Platinum Equity were not disclosed, so it is hard to measure how successful Lindsay Goldberg’s investment was. But Platinum's interest and Lindsay's other investments show that the government market continues to be popular with private equity firms.

PAE’s leadership team under CEO John Heller will remain intact, and Platinum Equity partner Louis Samson said that the plan is to continue “pursuing new opportunities to expand the business both organically and through prospective add-on acquisitions.”

Heller called it a new chapter for PAE.