| Page 2 of 2 < |
Anteon Merger Sets Off Deal Talk
SI International developed a computerized system to instruct soldiers. Its information-technology business could make it a takeover target.
(Defense Ammunition Center)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Krishnan says he is not interested in selling -- yet.
"But if somebody puts a huge offer on the table . . . I'm going to have to really look at it and say, 'How much harder am I going to have to work to equal that?' " Krishnan said. "There are times when you feel, 'Hey the market is so hot, should I sell?' It is a dilemma."
It's a dilemma facing contracting executives all around the Beltway, said Mark Moore, partner at Longstreet Partners LLC, a boutique investment banking firm that works with government contractors. Executives are often torn between taking advantage of the generous offers put before them, he said, and the desire to maintain control of their companies and take care of their employees.
"It's never easy for them -- their whole professional lives a lot of times have been put into the companies they're running," Moore said.
But the deals are often valuable enough to quickly make multimillionaires out of the companies' executives, and the prices have risen as new sources of capital entered the market. British companies have recently shown great interest in buying U.S. contractors, as have private equity firms and "blank check" companies that combine smaller firms into a holding company.
Michael H. Lustbader is a principal at Arlington Capital Partners, a private investment firm in the District that has bought several government information-technology and defense companies in recent years and in 2004 combined two of its smaller investments into Apogen Technologies Inc. of McLean.
Through acquisitions and internal growth, Apogen tripled its sales and operating profit and became a top 10 contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. Lustbader said that Arlington Capital's plan was to hold on to Apogen and sell it at a big profit a few years from now but that this summer too many suitors came calling.
"We were getting multiple expressions of interest, feelers from all kinds of larger companies out there," he said. "Our plan was to hold on to the company, but it really came down to the high, very high, level of interest we received."
In September, Apogen was sold to British defense firm QinetiQ for about $300 million.
Staff writer Terence O'Hara contributed to this report.
