M&A forecast: Contracts, customers, technology driving more deals

Last week, I taped a radio show hosted by Mark Amtower on FederalNewsRadio where we discussed merger and acquisition trends in the market.

Kevin DeSanto of the investment bank KippsDeSanto was the other panelist on Amtower Off Center, and frankly, the real brains of the discussion.

One of the trends we all agreed on was the value of some of the large governmentwide contracts such as Alliant and OASIS. When you hold those kind of contracts, you immediately are an attractive takeover target for companies that aren’t primes on them.

We’ve seen several deals that were fueled at least in part by a desire to hold a position on one of those contracts.

When Alliant II is awarded, I’d expect another flurry of M&A activity by those who didn’t make the cut.

Another trend is the continued value of technology, particularly in areas such as cyber, cloud, big data and health IT. Those are hot areas where agencies are looking to spend.

Also, listen for our discussion of some of the big deals that are reshaping the market such as Leidos and Lockheed, CSRA, Salient/CRGT and CACI International’s appetite for acquisitions.

Hopefully, it’ll be as fun to listen to as it was for us doing the show.