19 Sep 05. ThyssenKrupp Technologies and EADS signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Thus, both companies are now a team in the bidding process for Atlas Elektronik, a subsidiary of BAE Systems, and are submitting a joint bid. According to the agreement, ThyssenKrupp Technologies will keep 60 percent of Atlas and EADS 40 percent. EADS contributes its core competence as system partner of the shipbuilding industry. “We are ready to make a significant contribution to the consolidation of the German – and future European – naval systems business. Together, we want to secure competitiveness in this key technology area”, said Dr. Stefan Zoller, CEO of EADS Defence & Security Systems Division. Bremen will continue to be site and headquarters of Atlas Elektronik and it is to be strengthened. With 1,750 employees, Atlas Elektronik is an established market leader in the development of integrated sonar systems for submarines and a supplier of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
12 Sep 05. The FBI and the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency are beginning to invest in start-up companies, following other U.S. intelligence agencies in using taxpayer money to spur development of high-technology products and services by U.S. entrepreneurs. The investments go through a venture-capital firm called In-Q-Tel, established by the CIA in 1999 to tap into Silicon Valley and other high-tech centers. (Source: Wall Street Journal)
15 Sep 05. Surprise Contract Boosts SpaceX As It Competes With Boeing, Lockheed
Maverick entrepreneur Elon Musk, who says he is prepared to spend nearly $200 million of his personal fortune creating a family of low-cost, reusable rockets, recently landed an unexpected customer: the U.S. intelligence community. A new contract for a single, classified launch—shrouded in such secrecy that neither the spy agency nor specific type of satellite was identified—envisions construction of a massive rocket by Musk’s company, known as SpaceX. The launch vehicle would be comparable to the largest, most powerful models built by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, but costing a fraction of the prices charged by the rocket-industry leaders. (Source: Wall Street Journal)
19 Sep 05. LogicaCMG, the Anglo-Dutch IT services group, is today expected to announce a £400m rights issue to help finance its planned £630m acquisition of French rival Unilog. The rights issue will be on a two-for-one basis and will be subject to an investors’ vote in mid-October. Should the rights issue be approved, LogicaCMG will formally launch its
bid for Unilog in early November However, the rights issue is understood to have the backing of some of LogicaCMG’s largest shareholders. LogicaCMG, which already has net debt of slightly more than £300m, is offering €73 (£49) a share for Unilog. The majority of the payment is to be in cash, with a small share element. Unilog is 40 per cent owned by management and staff. Senior managers will be taking shares in the enlarged LogicaCMG, which they will be tied into for at least two years. Unilog’s senior executives are expected to have a seat on the LogicaCMG board and will continue to take an active role in the running of the company. The acquisition of Unilog, which does IT work for a number of large French corporations such as Total, EDF and Vivendi, is designed to bolster LogicaCMG’s underweight operations in France and Germany. LogicaCMG’s French operations currently account for 7 per cent of revenues and are expected to incur a loss of some £8.2m this year. In contrast, 81 per cent of Unilog’s revenues come from France, with profit margins of about 10 per cent. The company is the fourth-largest IT services company in France after Atos Origin Cap Gemini and IBM.The Paris-based company also has substantial operations in Germany and will help lift LogicaCMG’s revenues in that region by nearly 75 per cent. The acquisition will be the largest the group has made since it was formed in a £950m merger between Logica and CMG in 2002.