DRS reports

DRS Technologies reported that sales were a record high for the last quarter. See an article here. DRS also reported a 40% increase in profits and a record backlog of over $1 B dollars. As discussed here, Finmeccanica has agreed to buy the American company. This would be one of the largest foreign acquisitions of an American defense company.

BAE grows in the US

This article discusses the effect BAE has had on Phoenix, AZ. It also illustrates how the non-US company has grown through the acquisitions of US companies and has gained more and more US defene business. In Phoenix alone the number of BAE employees has tripled in the last five years or so, and the company has been buying facilities and companies. The article also shows how some in Congress feel a British company is better than a joint German and French, making it easier for BAE to continue to gain work in the US.

Army buys more tactical vehicles

The US Army awarded BAE a $1.6 B contract to buy 10,000 medium tactical vehicles. See a story here. The contract if all options are exercised could be worth over $2.0 B. The contract will be for three years base, and it makes BAE one of the top ten defense contractors selling to the US military now. This has been done through judicial acquisitions and expansion in the US, as well as some successful joint ventures.

Various suitors view Harris for takeover

This article discusses the situation of Harris Corporation who makes radios for the US military and various civilian applications. There business has boomed over the last few years and their size and contracts have made them a target of the larger US and European defense contractors. Unfortunately the good performance of the company has driven the stock to an all time high making an acquisition very expensive. This is especially true of concerns that with the change in US administrations that there will be a falling off in the US Defense budget. Another concern is that Harris does work on several classified programs making it difficult for foreign companies, like EADS or BAE, to purchase them. Even if it wasn’t in such a time of Congress looking askance at these kinds of acquisitions, the security requirements might be too hard.

Finmeccanica follows through

Bump - Fresh off good financial reports for the quarter, EADS is now looking at DRS Technologies as well. See an article here. This makes it sound like DRS might be a good buy.

As rumored this weekend Finmeccanica bought DRS today. The deal is for around $5 B. See an article here. This is the biggest acquisition so far by an European company. DRS has been an attractive take over target for a few years, one of the reasons its stock was so high. If this deal can make it through the necessary regulatory and legal review it will be quite stunning. Prior to this BAE and EADS had been doing smaller acquisitions, under a $1B. In today’s political environment due to the KC-45 deal and it being an election year it should be interesting to see Congress’s reaction.