M&A Activity

Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) paid $588M to acquire Vista Equity Partners' minority interest in their cybersecurity joint venture Forcepoint during the fourth quarter of 2019.

Comtech Telecommunications (Nasdaq: CMTL) has agreed to buy Gilat Satellite Networks (Nasdaq: GILT) for $10.25 per share or approximately $532.5M in cash and stock. “The acquisition better positions Comtech to take advantage of key marketplace trends, particularly the growing demand for satellite connectivity and the enormous long-term opportunity set that is emerging in the secure wireless communications market,” said Fred Kornberg, board chairman and CEO of Comtech.

Greg Hayes, chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), said UTC hopes to close its potential $120B merger with Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) by early April and has begun planning for the integration of the two companies, the Hartford Business Journal reported Tuesday.

Warren Romine, managing director at KippsDeSanto & Co., has said more middle-market defense contractors are considering divestitures as they assess their capacity to keep up with market trends, the Washington Business Journal reported Monday. Romine told the publication in an interview he expects increased U.S. defense budget and low interest rates to also drive acquisition and divestiture efforts.

The U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based defense and space company Electro Optic Systems has agreed to acquire Audacy for approximately $6.7M in a move to leverage the latter’s spectrum license for microwave communications.

Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Embraer have received unconditional approval for their strategic partnership from Brazil’s regulatory agency. The European Commission continues to review the partnership, which has secured unconditional clearances in the U.S., Japan, Montenegro, Kenya, Colombia, China and South Africa.

ASGN (NYSE: ASGN) has closed its acquisition of Blackstone Technology Group’s federal division for $85M in cash. ASGN said Monday it will integrate Arlington, Va.-based Blackstone Federal into ECS’ enterprise solutions group focused on providing digital platforms to federal civilian clients.

DynCorp International has completed the initial transitions for the U.S. Army’s Aviation Field Maintenance II East and West contracts successfully, the company announced on Monday. “We are very proud of our work to deliver readiness to the U.S. military and we are delighted to expand our support of Army aviation,” said George Krivo, CEO of DynCorp and two-time Wash100 Award recipient. 

Information technology companies Smartronix and Trident Technologies have received strategic investments from New York-based private equity firm OceanSound Partners.

BAE Systems’ U.S. subsidiary has agreed to acquire two businesses that are being divested in order for United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) to secure the required antitrust approval for their pending merger.