29 Sep 10. Babcock International Group: Trading Statement. Babcock issued a Trading Statement (29 Sep 10), prior to the release of half-year results on 9 Nov 10. The acquisition of VT Group was completed on 8 Jul 10, leading to a new Divisional structure being announced four days later. The four Reporting Divisions are now: Defence & Security, International, Marine and Support Services. The group’s order book stands at about £12,000m with a further £5,000m currently under negotiation.
Comment: The MoD and Babcock Marine entered into a Terms of Business Agreement (ToBA) on 25 Mar 10. The Agreement guarantees Babcock’s role as the MoD’s lead industrial partner for submarine support and the preferred supplier for warship and submarine services at HM Naval Bases Clyde and Devonport. The ToBA also extends Babcock’s management roles at the two Bases from 2013 to 2015. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 09/38, 04 Oct 10)

06 Oct 10. Henry Bros. Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:HBE – News), a turnkey provider of technology-based integrated electronic security solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement with Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (Nasdaq:KTOS – News) to acquire all outstanding shares of HBE common stock for a purchase price of approximately $45m in cash, or $7.00 per HBE share of common stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:KTOS – News) provides mission critical products, services and solutions for United States National Security. Principal products, services and solution offerings relate to and support C5ISR, weapon systems sustainment, military weapon range operations and technical services, network engineering services, information assurance and cybersecurity solutions, security and surveillance systems, and critical infrastructure security system design and integration. Kratos is headquartered in San Diego, California, with resources located throughout the U.S. and at key strategic military locations. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval by the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of HBE, and also provides for a 40 day “go shop” period. Mr. Henry, Mr. Rockwell and all other directors of HBE, who collectively hold approximately 60% of HBE’s shares outstanding, have agreed to vote their shares in favour of the anticipated merger. Additionally, Mr. Henry has committed to purchase Kratos common stock in the open market at prevailing market prices using a portion of his share of the proceeds from the merger following the transaction closing. Imperial Capital LLC advised HBE and rendered a fairness opinion to the HBE board of directors in connection with the approval of the transaction by the board. (Source: Yahoo!/PRNewswire)

30 Sep 10. Six3 Systems makes third acquisition. United States defence intelligence solutions specialist Six3 Systems Inc., a portfolio company of private equity firm GTCR, has made its third acquisition in the form of government and commercial IT solutions specialist Novii Design LLC. Founded in 2005 and based in Virginia, US, Novii provides large-scale data fusion systems, cyber solutions and high-end enterprise architectures for the US intelligence sector. (Source: Jane’s Defence Industry)

05 Oct 10. EADS is set to spend up to 2bn Euros (2.7bn dollars) on acquisitions, and has the defence, security and services sectors in mind, its boss said Tuesday.
“We have a few targets in sight” in those sectors, and “we have the capacity to invest between one and two billion euros,” Louis Gallois told the German business daily Handelsblatt. The amount is higher than EADS had indicated previously. With a treasury that currently contains some 8.9bn Euros, EADS wants to strike a better balance among its activities, and take some pressure off its main division, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

04 Oct 10. Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN – News) has acquired Technology Associates Inc., a privately held compa