M&A Activity

The Department of Justice has given L3 Technologies (NYSE: LLL) and Harris (NYSE: HRS) an antitrust approval to advance their merger through an all-stock transaction, Reuters reported Friday.

A McAleese & Associates report says the merged company of L3 Technologies (NYSE: LLL) and Harris (NYSE: HRS) would invest 4 percent of $18B combined revenue in independent research-and-development efforts.

The board of directors at AECOM has approved the company’s plan to separate its management services business as a new publicly traded company that will primarily serve national government clients. AECOM said Monday it expects to complete the spinoff in the second half of its 2020 fiscal year and retain John Vollmer, the segment’s president and a 2019 Wash100 winner,  along with the current management team in the leadership of the future independent company.

Peraton has agreed to acquire Arlington, Va.-based information technology and satellite ground systems provider Solers for an undisclosed sum to further build up its capability to deliver space protection and resiliency platforms in support of national security programs.

The planned merger between Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) comes as the aerospace-and-defense sector anticipates slower growth in the Department of Defense’s spending and as DoD sets its sights on hypersonic missiles, space systems and other new priorities, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE: JEC) has concluded a tender offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of common stock of KeyW (Nasdaq: KEYW) for $11.25 per share in cash.

Thomas Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), told Defense News in an interview published Tuesday about the features of the proposed merger between Raytheon and United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) and one of the things he mentioned is how the deal makes the future combined firm more resilient.

AeroVironment has purchased Lawrence, Kan.-based Pulse Aerospace for $25.7M in cash to expand its line of small unmanned aircraft systems.

Greg Hayes, chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTC), has said that both UTC and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) agreed on implementing a "platform agnostic" approach for technology offerings of the future merged company. The two contractors signed an all-stock deal that will create a systems provider across aerospace and defense segments.

Health care services contractor DLH Holdings (Nasdaq: DLHC) has purchased Silver Spring, Md.-based public health research organization Social & Scientific Systems for $70M in cash.