Caliburn backs off IPO but dangles it as a future possibility
By
Ross Wilkers
DC Capital-backed contractor Caliburn International has withdrawn the initial public offering it filed for late last year, but indicates it could try it again.
Reston, Virginia-based government services contractor Caliburn International Corp. has withdrawn the initial public offering it originally filed for in October of last year, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
Owned by private equity firm DC Capital Partners, Caliburn intended to raise $100 million in equity through the IPO for acquisitions and to help pay down debt.
DC Capital created Caliburn through a roll-up of four other companies acquired since 2011 and the combined entity reported $784.7 million in pro forma revenue for 2017, according to its S-1 registration filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In a release, Caliburn CEO Jim Van Dusen cited “variability in the equity markets” as the reason the company is ending its IPO but indicated it was not taking that option off the table.
“Our business continues to grow, and we could potentially return to the public markets in the future,” he added.
Although Caliburn certainly could file for an IPO again, recent history suggests that move could foreshadow a sale of Caliburn to another owner and departure from that path to the public markets.
Both SRA International and Alion Science and Technology filed for IPOs in 2015, then ended those processes after both agreed to transactions. SRA merged into what eventually became CSRA and Alion was acquired by private equity firm Veritas Capital.
Just last year, Vencore was on its way to a traditional IPO before that company merged into what became Perspecta.