PAE Inc. [PAE] on Monday said it has agreed to acquire CENTRA Technology in a $208 million cash deal that will add new customers in the intelligence community, and Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close late in the fourth quarter.
CENTRA, which has 760 employees, 93 percent of whom have top secret and above security clearances, is based in Massachusetts. The company expects to have $255 million in sales and $20 million in adjusted operating income this year and has a backlog of about $1 billion.
PAE said that 57 percent of CENTRA’s estimated sales this year are with the intelligence community, 28 percent with DoD, and 14 percent with civilian agencies.
The company also said the deal will expand its total addressable market in government spending by $36 billion annually. Of this new market potential, PAE said $18 billion is in defense services, including technical advice, C5ISR engineering, DoD training and intelligence training.
The acquisition opens up $15 billion in new potential business with the intelligence community in the areas of satellite communication services, intelligence analysis, terrestrial network services, and program support.
The new addressable opportunities in the homeland security market, worth $3 billion annually, include information analytics and management support.
The pending acquisition continues PAE’s push into higher-end national security work.
“This acquisition firmly aligns with PAE’s strategy of expanding the business to higher-marking market areas,” John Heller, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “By acquiring CENTRA, PAE realizes a significant milestone in the execution of our strategic growth plan to be a provider of innovative, higher margin, knowledge-based offering in attractive, resilient end markets.
CENTRA is a prime contractor on 89 percent of its work.
PAE expects the acquisition to add 10 basis points to adjusted operating margins.
Byron Callan, a defense analyst with the strategic policy and research firm
Capital Alpha Partners, said in a note to clients on Monday that PAE’s deal for CENTRA “underscores continued defense/federal services consolidation and that management/boards are moving on properties that could be aligned with enduring DoD/defense demand.”
PAE is owned by the investment firm The Gores Group. Citizens Capital Markets is CENTRA’s financial adviser on the deal and Renaissance Strategic Advisors is providing PAE with strategic advice.
PAE expects to have between $2.6 billion and $2.7 billion in sales this year.