ASGN closes ECS deal to enter federal market
By
Ross Wilkers
ASGN has closed its $775 million acquisition of ECS Federal in a deal to enter the government IT market.
ASGN Inc. -- formerly known as On Assignment -- has closed its $775 million cash acquisition of ECS Federal in a deal that marks the staffing services company’s first entrance into the government IT market.
First announced in January, ASGN is adding a roughly $600 million platform to its portfolio and expects ECS to grow to $1 billion in revenue by 2021 through organic growth and acquisitions. Calabasas, California-based ASGN reported $2.6 billion in sales last year.
Founded in 2001, ECS provides IT services to government agencies in cloud, cybersecurity, software development, IT modernization and science and engineering.
Fairfax, Virginia-based ECS become one of the faster-growing middle-tier contractors in recent years and also has been an active consolidator through several deals such as the April 2017 acquisition of InfoReliance.
The addition of InfoReliance pushed ECS past the $500 million-revenue mark, a milestone ECS President and CEO George Wilson told Washington Technology in 2015 they would hit within a few years.
Wilson and ECS’ current leadership team will continue to run the business that is now an operating segment of ASGN. He told Washington Technology after the deal with ASGN was announced: “Same strategy, same management team, more resources.”
ASGN rebranded to its current name from the former On Assignment identity in conjunction with the ECS deal’s closure.
The sale of ECS represents an exit for its majority owner and founder Roy Kapani, plus the minority investor in private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg, which exited its investment in government services contractor PAE two years ago through a deal with Platinum Equity.