Weekly Roundup
June 8 – June 12 2015

The GovCon sector saw another event in its mergers-and-acquisitions landscape this week but this move serves as a contrast from the other deals observed in 2015 so far.

STG, the Reston, Va.-based contractor founded by Simon Lee in 1986, said it agreed to be purchased by special purpose acquisition company Global Defense & National Security Systems for $165 million — $75 million in cash and $90.5 million in stock — or $10.55 per share.

GDEF will give STG stockholders majority ownership of the combined company and the public and Global Strategies Group will hold the remaining stock.

GDEF, which is also based in Reston, went public in 2013 with the backing Global Strategy Group’s leaders and was formed to acquire mid-tier defence and intelligence businesses, then pursue growth through organic means and additional mergers or acquisitions.

Global Strategies Group is the same organization that in 2007 acquired the systems engineering and intelligence analysis contractor now known as Sotera Defense Solutions, which undertook its own initial public offering in late 2009.

Sotera, then known as Global Defense Technology & Systems Inc., was sold to private equity firm Ares Management for $315 million in April 2011.

STG Chairman and CEO Simon Lee will hold the chairman title at the combined company and Paul Fernandes, STG’s president and chief operating officer, will lead that future entity.

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The Internet of Things will be the focal point of discussion at the Potomac Officers Club’s “IoT” summit this coming Tuesday, when GovCon and federal leaders will share insights on the convergence of appliances and building systems with the Internet.

Vint Cerf, widely recognized as a “father of the Internet” and Google’s chief Internet evangelist, will address the executive audience for the half-day event at the Hilton in McLean, Va.

John Pescatore, director of emerging security at the SANS Institute and a speaker at POC’s 2013 cloud summit, will return to offer his perspective on how agencies and businesses can collaborate to protect connected devices and networks.

Additional speakers from industry will include Peter Rommess, Cisco’s public sector cybersecurity leader, and Michael Riley, an executive for worldwide IoT offerings at IBM.

Speakers from government will include Kevin Kampschroer, director of federal high-performance green buildings at the General Services Administration; Sokwoo Rhee, associate director of cyber-physical systems at the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Gil Nolte, director of trusted systems research at the National Security Agency.

Click here to register for the IoT summit and view POC’s full event calendar.

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