The professional services firm Jacobs [JEC] on Monday said it has agreed to acquire KeyW Corp. [KEYW] in a deal that will significantly increase the amount of classified work the company does and position it on a multi-billion dollar opportunity in the space market.
Jacobs agreed to pay $11.25 per share for KeyW, representing an enterprise deal value of about $815 million, excluding tax assets. The deal includes about $272 million of KeyW net debt.
Jacobs, a $15 billion company serving the business, commercial, industrial, government and infrastructure sectors, said the pending acquisition will increase its number of cleared personnel to the top secret or higher level to around 50 percent and deepen its relationships with the intelligence community.
Jacobs said the acquisition will position it in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) market, which is pegged to reach more than $46 billion by 2024. Within the ISR space, the company said that KeyW opens it to the space-based remote sensing market, pointing out that the Air Force is poised to spend more than $14 billion in 2020 on space programs.
The acquisition will also provide offensive cyber capabilities to Jacobs and expand its defensive capabilities here, the company said.
KeyW had nearly $507 million in sales in 2018 and a net loss of $22.3 million. In 2019, the company expects sales to be between $510 million and $530 million. Jacobs said it expects the acquisition to add between 25 and 30 cents earnings per share in its fiscal year 2020.
The acquisition is expected to close by the end of August.
Jacobs’ financial adviser on the deal is Barclays and Guggenheim Securities, LLC is advising KeyW.