The O’Gara Group yesterday said it has agreed to acquire the commercial armoring division of BAE Systems, bolstering its business that armors commercial vehicles for government customers.
The pending deal will also bring back into O’Gara’s fold its original business, which initially armored commercial vehicles for government customers before adding work up-armoring Humvees for the United States military. O’Gara sold that business to Armor Holdings 10 years ago, which in turn was acquired by the North American division of Britain’s BAE Systems.
BAE is retaining the military vehicle armoring components of the business.
O’Gara is paying about $10 million for the vehicle armoring business, which operates from a facility in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area. In addition to the vehicle armoring plant, O’Gara is also getting a smaller facility in the area that produces transparent armor. That component to the business was added by the former Armor Holdings.
In the past decade there has been tremendous growth in the vehicle armoring business, which has now stabilized, Bill O’Gara, CEO of The O’Gara Group, told Defense Daily yesterday.
The market for commercial armored vehicles by civilian government customers is poised to begin replenishment, as are the government and military markets for transparent armor, O’Gara said.
The vehicle armoring business remains fragmented and the stability in the market means buyers are becoming more rational, which O’Gara said is an advantage for his company because it “thrives” where quality matters. “We plan to take market share,” he said.
The U.S. government will be O’Gara’s primary focus but the company will also be looking to take advantage of its international experience to make inroads here, O’Gara said.
BAE several years ago sold off its international commercial armoring businesses, which operated under the Centagon brand that at one time had been part of Armor Holdings.
O’Gara’s returned to the commercial vehicle armoring business late last year with the acquisition of Protection Devices, Inc., that is based in Texas (Defense Daily, Jan. 5). That business provides armored vehicles primarily to the State Department, as does the BAE business that O’Gara is buying.
The Cincinnati operations that O’Gara is buying, when combined with a small vehicle armoring-related facility the company already operates in that area, will have just over 100 employees.
O’Gara consists of three divisions, Training and Services, which is its largest, Sensor Systems, and Mobile. The vehicle armoring business units make up the Mobile Division.
BAE’s financial adviser on the deal is Rothschild Inc.