M&A Moves: Lockheed Martin dropped a $4B acquisition deal

M&A Moves is a column where we chart the mergers and acquisitions of tech companies across the region. Have a tip? Email us at dc@technical.ly.

Lockheed Martin dropped Aerojet

After a red flag from the federal government, defense tech giant Lockheed Martin has terminated a $4.4 billion agreement to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings.

Lockheed announced intentions to drop the deal after a lawsuit filed in January from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) based on antitrust concerns. An acquisition of Aeroject, a developer of rocket, hypersonic and propulsion tech systems, would be detrimental to fellow defense tech contractors, the FTC said. Through an injunction, the FTC asked that the deal be put on hold until June when an administrative trial could take place.

“Our planned acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne would have benefitted the entire industry through greater efficiency, speed, and significant cost reductions for the U.S. government,” said Lockheed Martin President and CEO James Taiclet in a statement. “However, we determined that in light of the FTC’s actions, terminating the transaction is in the best interest of our stakeholders.”

Lockheed first announced the deal in December 2020 but was met with backlash from fellow defense giants like Raytheon Technologies. Going forward, Lockheed said, it would “continue to support Aerojet Rocketdyne and other essential suppliers” following challenges from the pandemic.

Ellucian acquired CampusLogic

Ellucian, a Reston, Virginia-based edtech company that works with 2,000-plus institutions globally, inked a deal to acquire Arizona’s CampusLogic.

CampusLogic primarily provides financial services technology for higher education institutions. Through this deal, Ellucian said it will be able to extend its current financial aid tech, which can help its partner institutions boost enrollment and course competition numbers with the additional financing support. Additionally, CampusLogic founder and CEO Gregg Scoresby will be joining the Ellucian team in an unannounced role focused on student success.

“Ellucian’s success in accelerating the digital transformation of higher education, paired with CampusLogic’s financial aid SaaS solutions, provides a more connected and interactive experience creating more speed and certainty for students to meet their financial needs,” Ellucian CEO Laura Ipsen said in a statement. “Integrating CampusLogic’s capabilities across Ellucian’s comprehensive SaaS offerings creates new opportunities for innovation beyond student financial success to address the issue of student well-being.”

Corbett Technology completed two acquisition deals in January

Corbett Technology Solutions, Inc (CTSI) a systems integration firm located in Chantilly, Virginia, is on a roll in 2022.

In January, the NoVa company announced that it had acquired Structure Works, a Dover Plains, New York-based security system developer. Terms of the deal were kept under wraps. Seven days later, it dropped the news that it had also acquired Systems Electronics, another company developing safety communications and security tech that’s based in North Carolina.

“While continuing to expand our critical communications and healthcare business, Systems Electronics
further enhances our North Carolina presence and extends our Virginia support structure to include the
Tidewater and Western regions of the state,” said Joe Oliveri, president and CEO of CTSI, in a statement. “We are very excited to add Systems Electronics and their industry-leading customer service to the CTSI family.”

Corbett is a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, a Chicago investment firm. All in all, the Systems Electronics news marks the company’s eighth acquisition since it partnered with Wind Point in 2020; one, Star Asset Security, was just acquired in late December.

Here’s who else is making M&A moves around the DMV

• Connectivity platform Alef, based in New York, acquired Charlottesville, Virginia’s CareerGig, a SaaS company that created an online marketplace for freelancers. Last January, CareerGig made an acquisition move of its own when it acquired Moonlighting.
• Reston-based CACI International, an IT firm that focuses on national security, acquired Ashburn, Virginia govtech provider ID Technologies, a portfolio company of The Acacia Group.
• DC equity firm Godspeed Capital acquired professional services firm Exceptional Software Strategies, based in Linthicum, Maryland.
• Sysorex, an IT integration and services company in Herdon, Virginia that specializes in Ethereum mining and blockchain, said it plans to sell some of its assets to an unnamed company. Sysorex expects the deal to close in the next few weeks.
• Chicago investment firm PSP Capital acquired McLean, Virginia’s Ntiva, an IT management company.
• Fellow McLean company CIBT, which creates tech for immigration document management, acquired the mobility software package of Swiss tech company Viselio for an undisclosed amount.
• Bethesda, Maryland real estate lender Walker & Dunlop acquired GeoPhy, a real estate tech firm from the Netherlands. W&D will pay $85 million in cash when the deal closes and up to $205 million in potential earn-outs following close.
• Reston telemedicine provider SOC Telemed was acquired by Patient Square Capital, an investment firm in California.
• Restons Linear Financial Technologies, which developed a loan platform, was acquired by Chicago fintech company Amount for an undisclosed amount.
• GovExec, a DC information services tech provider, acquired Forecast International, a Connecticut market intelligence company. Terms were not disclosed, but GovExec said that Forecast would be a significant part of its defense portfolio.
• Federal Advisory Partners, a consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia, acquired fellow govtech consulting company Favor Tech Consulting, based in Vienna, Virginia.
• Chevy Chase, Maryland defense tech equity firm Enlightenment Capital acquired Colorado’s Boecore, a space tech company for the federal government.
• Florida satellite data and communications company ACR Group acquired TRX System, a location software company in Greenbelt, Maryland.
• Rockville, Maryland IT management firm Dataprise acquired Global Data Vault, a disaster relief and data protection company in Texas. Terms were not revealed.
• Sparks, Maryland-based Intelligent RF Solutions, an electronic warfare and signals intelligence company that’s been around since 1962, was acquired by New York’s Narda-MITEQ.
• Advanced Solutions International, an operations and fintech company in Alexandria, Virginia, acquired Arlington’s OpenWater, a software company for associations, organizations and foundations.
• MeetingPlay, based in Frederick, Maryland, merged with fellow event tech company Aventri, based in Connecticut. The combined company nabbed equity funding from Sunstone Partners and Camden Partners and named Eric Lochner as its new CEO.
• Aledade, a primary care enablement company in Bethesda acquired care planning solutions provider Iris Healthcare. Iris will become a part of Aledade’s health services unit Aledade Care Solutions.
• IT modernization company Octo, based in Reston, acquired application software company B3  Group, based in Herndon. The acquisition, Octo said, will help expand its presence in the federal healthcare scene.