Another notable government contractor has decided to chart a new path through a separation into two independent, publicly-traded companies and become the latest GovCon firm to undertake a reshaping of its portfolio.
CSC, the IT consultant founded in 1959 in Los Angeles, ended months of speculation over its future this week with the announcement that it would divide into one company solely focused on the U.S. public sector and another firm that will work in commercial and non-U.S. government markets.
The Falls Church, Va.-based company expects to complete the split by October and stockholders will hold shares in both companies.
Mike Lawrie, CSC CEO, will hold the executive chairman title for the U.S. public sector company and lead the commercial-focused firm as chief executive.
Other decisions such as locations of both companies and executive leadership are pending, but CSC’s decision to separate harkens back to many other large-scale restructures GovCon firms have made over the last four years.
ITT spun off its defense business in 2011 into what is now known as Exelis, which then in turnspun off its services segment in 2014 into the company now branded Vectrus.
The former Science Applications International Corp. split in 2013 into the companies now known as SAIC and Leidos, while L-3 Communications spun off its government services segment in 2012 into the contractor now known as Engility.
In the same week CSC announced it would break up, Harris’ pending acquisition of Exelis took a step forward with the news that Exelis’ stockholders voted to accept the $4.75 billion cash-and-stock offer from Harris to acquire the company.
Harris also received the Justice Department’s antitrust approval for the transaction and both companies now expect the deal to close May 29.
The deal will create a defense technology maker with approximately $8 billion in annual revenue and close to 23,000 employees, the companies said at the time of the original announcement.
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The Potomac Officers Club’s next event for public and private sector leaders will kick off the “CIO Summer Series,” where IT leaders from federal agencies will offer their perspectives on spending priorities and what is in store for the year ahead.
POC’s first event of the series will feature Terry Halvorsen, the Defense Department’s chief information officer, with more CIOs to come for the remainder of the series.
After that, POC’s June 16 “Internet of Things” summit will feature discussions on how the Internet has converged with appliances, automobiles and building systems.
Vint Cerf, widely recognized as a “father of the Internet” and Google’s chief Internet evangelist, will address the executive audience at the half-day event in McLean, Va.
Other speakers include Dan Doney, chief innovation officer at the DefenseIntelligence Agency, and Kevin Kampschroer, GSA’s director of federal high-performance green buildings.
Click here to register for these events and to view POC’s full calendar. THIS WEEK’S TOP NEWS STORIES |