By Calvin Biesecker
CoVant, a private equity partnership firm founded in late 2006, said yesterday it has made its first acquisition, A-T Solutions, Inc., which provides analytical and training services in explosives ordnance awareness and disposal, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) awareness, and homeland security preparedness to DoD, homeland security and even commercial customers.
A-T, which is based in Fredericksburg, Va., has been focused on “right of boom” activities, but they are moving to “left of boom in trying to detect and deter” terrorism, Joseph Kampf, CoVant’s CEO, told Defense Daily. Various United States government agencies have been working more on the detect and deter side of terrorism and that is where a lot of money is going to be spent in the future, he said. In addition, Kampf said other governments are also moving in this direction.
To play in the “left of boom” area, Kampf said, A-T will “use the information collected from an information technology (IT) perspective, in a data management system, analyze it, disseminate it, and track terrorists around the world so we can defeat their ability to use these kinds of devices, not only IEDs (improvised explosive devices) but all kinds of WMDs, including chemical, biological, nuclear, etcetera.”
With CoVant’s backing, A-T will be able to deliver its capabilities to more customers in homeland security and defense, Kampf said.
The acquisition is the first by CoVant, which is targeting emerging technology companies in the defense, homeland security and intelligence markets.
“We’re trying to find niches in those market spaces that relate to things like border security, let’s call that market secure ID, port security, data fusion, data management, analysis and dissemination, and the whole area of mission systems and warfighter support for the defense community, Kampf said.
Kampf is well known for his role in leading and growing the former Anteon International over an 11-year period before it was bought by General Dynamics [GD] early in 2006 for $2.1 billion (Defense Daily, Dec. 15, 2005). CoVant was formed by executives of Anteon and CI Capital Partners, which originally acquired Anteon in the mid-1990s and put Kampf in charge of the IT firm.
Anteon’s average annual growth over 11 years was 32 percent, through a combination of organic sales and acquisitions. CoVant hopes to match that type of growth over a sustained period through organic sales and acquisitions, Kampf said.
“If you sustain that kind of growth over a long period of time you create a lot of value,” he said.
Kampf said the areas of the defense, homeland security and intelligence markets that CoVant will be targeting are growing at faster rates than the overall budgets for those agencies. He expects “high double-digit organic growth” over the next three to five years for CoVant.
Terms of the deal for A-T were not disclosed. A-T, which is a service disabled veteran owned small business, said in a press release last August that its 2007 sales would exceed $30 million. The company is ranked 20th in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Hot 500 list for fastest growing companies in America last year. A-T said its three-year average annual growth rate is 1,271 percent.
In the state and local arena, A-T’s customers have generally spent their own funds for the company’s services. Kampf said that going forward the company is going to be targeting some of the Department of Homeland Security’s grant funds as well.
The JIAN Group served as A-T’s financial adviser.