By Calvin Biesecker
United Kingdom-based Cobham yesterday said it has agreed to acquired Argotek, Inc. for $36.3 million in cash in a deal aimed at bolstering the company’s capabilities and presence in the growing information security market in the United States.
The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2009 subject to approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Terms of the deal include $26.3 million to be paid upon closing on a debt and cash free basis and a seller’s note of $10 million that will be paid in installments on the first, second and third anniversary of completion.
Argotek, which is based in Northern Virginia, has core competencies in information security systems engineering, communications security engineering and operations, and information assurance research and development. About 98 percent of Argotek’s revenues are derived from U.S. government contracts, with about 90 percent of the work done on prime contracts, mostly on a sole source basis, a Cobham spokesman told Defense Daily.
Sales for Argotek, which is a private firm, were not disclosed, although the Cobham spokesman said that 80 percent of revenues come from customers in the U.S. intelligence community and the rest largely from the Defense Department and federal civilian agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
Cobham, which has been making acquisitions in the United States for several years, last year acquired SPARTA, which heads a team working on the National Comprehensive Cyber Security Initiative. Cobham said that Argotek will fit within the National Security Systems Sector of Cobham Analytic Solutions, which is the former SPARTA.
Argotek has 70 information assurance experts, all of whom have U.S. security clearances and are based at customer locations.