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13 Jan 22. Narda-MITEQ Acquires Intelligent RF Solutions. Narda AcquisitionCo, Inc. (“Narda-MITEQ”), a portfolio company of investment affiliates of J.F. Lehman & Company (“JFLCO”), is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of Intelligent RF Solutions, LLC (“iRF” or the “Company”). iRF is a market leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of RF and microwave systems and subsystems for mission-critical military and intelligence community applications. The Company specializes in wideband, high frequency products for signals intelligence (“SIGINT”), electronic intelligence (“ELINT”) and electronic warfare (“EW”) functions. With a legacy dating back to 1962, the Company employs approximately 50 individuals based in its facility in Sparks, Maryland. iRF represents the first add-on acquisition completed by Narda-MITEQ under JFLCO’s sponsorship and will continue to be led by the current iRF management team. Narda-MITEQ is a market leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of custom RF and microwave subsystems and components for defense and commercial end markets. The Company’s highly engineered solutions facilitate the conditioning, management and transfer of RF and microwave energy in demanding operating environments across a variety of radar, space, test and measurement and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications. Narda-MITEQ is headquartered in Hauppauge, NY with additional facilities in Pfullingen, Germany and Cisano, Italy.
Bob Tavares, Chief Executive Officer of Narda-MITEQ, commented, “Our partnership with iRF will further strengthen and broaden both organizations’ market presence and penetration, customer relationships and technology and product development capabilities. We look forward to working with the current iRF management team to build upon the Company’s sterling reputation and drive continued growth at Narda-MITEQ.”
“The iRF acquisition substantially expands Narda-MITEQ’s product portfolio with increased focus on system and subsystem capabilities for SIGINT/ELINT/EW applications, which is a key growth area for the business,” said Glenn Shor, Chairman of Narda-MITEQ and Partner at JFLCO. “We are excited to welcome iRF and its strong SIGINT/ELINT/EW systems technology, as well as its experienced senior management and engineering teams into the Narda-MITEQ platform,” added Ben Hatcher, Director of Narda-MITEQ and Principal at JFLCO.
Debt financing for the transaction was provided by Barings Finance and Siemens Financial Services. Shearman & Sterling served as legal advisor to Narda-MITEQ and JFLCO. Baker Hostetler provided government contracts, defense security and international trade advice and Jones Day served as counsel for the debt financing. Philpott Ball & Werner served as financial advisor to iRF while Barnes & Thornburg LLP were iRF’s legal representatives for the transaction.
13 Jan 22. Embraer to sell two Portuguese plants to Aernnova. Brazilian aerospace and defence company Embraer has agreed to sell two airframe factories in Evora, Portugal, to Spain-based aerostructures manufacturer Aernnova for USD172m, saying the divestiture will allow the facilities to diversify their customer base, attract more business, and boost their utilisation levels.
“This agreement is an important step towards [Embraer’s] footprint optimisation strategic initiative, which aims to [make] better use of our assets and improve the company’s profitability,” Embraer president and CEO Francisco Gomes Neto said on 12 January.
The plants, which have a total area of 68,900 sq ft (6,401 m2) and about 500 employees, are exclusively dedicated to Embraer programmes. They produce parts for wings and horizontal and vertical stabilisers for several types of Embraer aircraft, including business and commercial jets and the KC-390 Millennium military transport plane.
Under Aernnova’s ownership, the Evora factories will continue making parts for Embraer aircraft while gaining the freedom to pursue work from other aircraft manufacturers. The deal is expected to close in the current quarter and add about USD170m to Aernnova’s annual revenue, according to Embraer. (Source: Janes)
12 Jan 22. Novaria Group Announces Acquisition of Hydro Fitting Manufacturing. Acquisition Broadens Novaria’s Defense Sector Offering and Complements Acra Aerospace Business. Novaria Group, a leading manufacturer of specialty hardware for the aerospace and defense industries, today announced the acquisition of Hydro Fitting Manufacturing Corporation (“Hydro Fitting”), which specializes in custom high-pressure valves, charging kits, hose assemblies and fittings. This is Novaria’s sixth acquisition since April 2020 as the Fort Worth-based company continues to strengthen its robust family of aerospace and defense components.
“Becoming part of Novaria represents many things for Hydro Fitting – opportunity, market access, growth – all of which we couldn’t be more excited about.”
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Established in 1962 and incorporated in 1981, Hydro Fitting works with clients in aerospace, commercial automotive, mining and heavy equipment, defense and other industries. Hydro Fitting will continue to be based in Covina, California, and will complement Novaria’s existing fitting business, Acra Aerospace.
“We’re excited to embark on our relationship with Hydro Fitting,” said Novaria CEO Bryan Perkins. “They have a proven track record in manufacturing and supplying components that are vital to the aerospace and defense industries, which fits perfectly within Novaria’s vision and product strategy. I have personally admired their defense products and superb customer service for over two decades and am excited to welcome them to our family.”
Novaria General Manager Jed Burmahln added, “Hydro Fitting provides specialty expertise that we at Novaria value. It will be a great addition to our engine and airframe fitting business lines.”
“We look forward to Novaria continuing to build on the foundation we’ve established at Hydro Fitting,” President Seth Schwartz said. “Becoming part of Novaria represents many things for Hydro Fitting – opportunity, market access, growth – all of which we couldn’t be more excited about.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
About Novaria Group
Novaria Group is a privately held business focused on precision component companies that deliver optimum performance and sustainable growth with the aerospace and defense marketplace. For more information on Novaria’s business units, please visit www.novariagroup.com. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
12 Jan 22. Arianespace reports 30% revenue hike in 2021. French-based Arianespace, the rocket launcher of the James Webb telescope, has reported a 30 per cent increase of revenue in 2021. The company notched up more than €1.25bn of revenue, closing out a “very intense year”, according to a press release. The global launch provider has claimed territory in multiple space markets across the world, specifically in Europe, the United States and in Russia.
Although the rise of Elon Musk’s SpaceX has lessened the company’s relevancy due to the burgeoning use of the Falcon 9 rocket, Arianespace still maintains a competitive edge, especially within the European industry.
Arianespace closed the year having launched a total of 15 rockets into space: three of its Ariane 5, nine by Russia’s workhorse rocket Soyuz and three by Vega, developed by the European Space Agency and Italian Space Agency.
This was up from 10 launches in 2020, as it was not only plagued by the pandemic, but also Arianespace’s primary spaceport in French Guiana being closed due to COVID-19.
The company also launched a total of 305 satellites into orbit, and out of the 15 launches, 11.5 of these were for solely commercial customers.
Many of the satellite launches were on behalf of communication provider OneWeb’s constellation mission, set to deliver high-speed, low-latency connectivity across the globe through 648 satellites in near-polar orbit.
In December, marking Arianespace’s last launch of the year, the company blasted off 36 more satellites for OneWeb’s constellation, now seeing 60 per cent of the mission completed. It is set to finish by the end of 2022.
It marked the first time a Soyuz deployed 36 OneWeb satellites instead of 34 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, validating the rocket’s “performance improvement” according to Arianespace.
Most notably, Arianespace was the launch provider for the James Webb Telescope, which blasted off into space on Christmas Day, set to be the powerful successor of Hubble.
According to Arianespace, “the orbital injection accuracy of Ariane 5 provided a significant lifespan increase for Webb”.
The launch of the telescope was Arianespace’s 14th of the year and saw the Ariane 5 carry a payload of 6,173 kilograms into space.
Earlier this week, the James Webb telescope completed its final stage of all major spacecraft deployments, marking the end of some of the largest hurdles the telescope was set to endure.
The deployment was of the 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror, and its completion will allow the telescope to begin science operations.
In November, communications provider Optus tapped Arianespace to provide its launch services for the next-generation Optus 11 satellite to blast into orbit.
The satellite will have the ability to reconfigure in orbit, allowing for its location, coverage, bandwidth and capacity to be changed as customer demands, unlike traditional satellites.
The new satellite will be the replacement of Optus’ D1, a satellite that has been serving Australia and New Zealand since 2006.
Arianespace said it is “gearing up for a new year that will be just intense”, readying for the first launch on 10 February for OneWeb.
The French company expects to complete up to 17 launches in 2022 across Europe and Russia.
“This year will also be a pivotal one for the European space community,” said the company, as it prepares for a number of institutional milestones such as the Space Summit in Toulouse and others. (Source: Defence Connect)
12 Jan 22. Dassault aircraft deliveries rise. Dassault Aviation delivered 55 airplanes in 2021, up from 47 the year before, the French aerospace manufacturer announced on 6 January.
Dassault provided 25 Rafale multirole fighters to export customers in 2021, which met expectations and was up from 13 the previous year. The company also delivered 30 Falcon business jets, up five from an earlier forecast but down four from the previous year.
Dassault received orders for 49 Rafales and 51 Falcons in 2021, up from zero and 15, respectively, from the year before. The company attributed its low 2020 order intake to economic uncertainty and travel restrictions spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2021 Rafale order figure consisted of 37 aircraft for export and 12 for France. The United Arab Emirates’ signing of a contract in December 2021 to buy 80 Rafales is not included. Dassault gave no reason for the omission. Dassault’s backlog stood at 86 Rafales and 55 Falcons at the end of 2021, up from 62 Rafales and 34 Falcons a year earlier. (Source: Janes)
07 Jan 22. Google has confirmed it acquired cyber security specialist Siemplify, reportedly for $500m, to become part of Google Cloud’s Chronicle. Google is kicking off the new year by stepping up its operations in cloud-based and enterprise security. The company confirmed that it has acquired Siemplify, an Israel-based cyber security start-up that specialises in end-to-end security services for enterprises, typically referred to as security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) services.
The acquisition was rumoured in earlier reports in the Israeli press. Now Google and Siemplify’s CEO and co-founder Amos Stern have both confirmed the acquisition, noting that Siemplify will be integrated into Google Cloud Platform, and specifically its Chronicle operation.
Google and Siemplify did not respond to our questions asking about the price, but our sources close to the deal have confirmed that it is $500m (a figure also mentioned in the earlier reports).
Chronicle was originally founded as an enterprise security company with Google “X”. It migrated into Google itself by way of Google Cloud in 2019 as part of the search giant’s efforts to expand its enterprise revenues, by expanding the functionality and services around its cloud services business, in hot pursuit of Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS, the two leaders in that market.
Siemplify had raised $58m in total, with its last round back in May 2019. Investors included Georgian, 83North, Jump Capital and G20 Ventures, as well as a number of individuals. Although Siemplify has its head office now in New York, the company was founded and still has R&D operations in Israel, which would make this Google’s first cyber acquisition out of the country.
Google’s acquisition comes at a critical time in the world of cyber security. The bigger picture is that security breaches show no sign of abating, a situation that is being propelled by ever-more sophisticated approaches from malicious hackers; and an ever-more tempting target, as organisations and consumers bring more and more of their infrastructure and everyday activities online and into the cloud.
Chronicle was built as a platform designed for cyber security telemetry: specifically tracking the movement of data across all devices and networks, as a way of getting a clue to detecting and stopping breaches. SOAR platforms are the customer-interface element of that activity: they are used by security operations specialists to manage and monitor activity, begin the process of remediation (either automatically or manually) and to log everything to help prevent the same thing from happening in the future. As Google adds more services and automation to attract more customers, adding SOAR capabilities is the logical next step for the company.
In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Sunil Potti, GM of Google Cloud Security, explained that Google’s intention is to integrate Siemplify’s capabilities into Chronicle in ways that help enterprises modernise and automate their security operations.
“The Siemplify platform is an intuitive workbench that enables security teams to both manage risk better and reduce the cost of addressing threats.
“Siemplify allows Security Operation Center analysts to manage their operations from end-to-end, respond to cyber threats with speed and precision, and get smarter with every analyst interaction.
“The technology also helps improve SOC performance by reducing caseloads, raising analyst productivity, and creating better visibility across workflows,” Potti wrote.
10 Jan 22. Elbit Systems Reorganizes UK Activities. Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT and TASE: ESLT) (“Elbit Systems” or the “Company”) announced today that its UK subsidiary, Elbit Systems UK Ltd. (“Elbit Systems UK”), has sold the Power and Control Business of its subsidiary Ferranti Technologies Ltd. (“Ferranti”), to TT Electronics (UK) Plc. (LSE: TTG.L) for approximately $12m (approximately £9m) in cash, subject to customary post-completion working capital adjustments.
The remaining business of Ferranti, including training and simulation, avionics, display systems, aircrew survival systems, platform protection and computing, are planned to be integrated into Elbit Systems UK.
Martin Fausset, CEO of Elbit Systems UK, said: “This reorganization is part of our strategy to focus activities on certain areas in order to support the continuous expansion of our operations and collaborations in the UK.”
Elbit Systems UK has three wholly owned subsidiaries and two joint ventures, employing over 600 personnel in the UK. The two joint ventures were formed in order to deliver the Watchkeeper program for the British Army and to supply and support three fleets of aircraft for the Royal Air Force within the UK MOD Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) program. Additionally, Elbit Systems UK supplies the UK MOD with major defence programs, including the Royal Navy’s “Selborne” future naval training program and “MEWP” Maritime Electronic Warfare System Integrated Capability program as well as the British Army’s “D-JFI” Dismounted Joint Fires Integrators program, the “JFST” Joint Fires Synthetic Training and the supply of Night Vision Goggles.
Highlights of the Acquisition
Ferranti P&C, based in Greater Manchester, designs and manufactures mission-critical complex power and control sub-assemblies for blue chip customers in high-reliability and high-performance end markets, primarily aerospace and defence. One of the principal benefits of the acquisition is that it brings highly skilled employees who provide full-service capabilities from design, assembly, manufacturing, and testing including environmental stress screening and inspection through to service.
Ferranti P&C adds further technology capability, IP and scale to TT’s Power Solutions business, which is one of our focus areas for structural growth. It has valuable long-term customer relationships and programmes with leading global aerospace, defence and industrial OEMs operating in highly regulated markets with significant barriers to entry through necessary industry accreditations and customer approvals.
The acquisition is expected to be modestly earnings enhancing, to generate mid-teens operating margins and to generate a return on invested capital in excess of the Group’s WACC in year 1. We expect to generate cost synergies of circa £0.4m by year 3.
Current Trading
TT confirms that trading for the full year was in line with the update provided on 23 November 2021.
Commenting on the acquisition, Richard Tyson, Chief Executive Officer said:
“We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Ferranti’s Power and Control business which is in line with our strategy for growth at higher margins and moving up the value chain in our target end markets in A&D. This highly attractive platform adds scale and technology capabilities to our Power Solutions business in Europe. We expect to achieve our financial return hurdle rate in the first full year.
I am delighted to welcome Ferranti Power and Control’s highly skilled team to TT as we continue to build differentiated capabilities and engineer smarter solutions for our customers.”
Investors Chronicle Comment: TT Electronics buys Ferranti arm for £9m.
Deal will be earnings enhancing from year one.
- Access to skilled workforce the main benefit, TT says
- £400,00 of synergies expected by year three
TT Electronics (TTG), a manufacturer of electronic components, is buying Ferranti Technologies’ Power and Control arm from Elbit Systems for £9m.
Oldham-based Ferranti P&C makes power and control parts for aerospace and defence companies.
TT Electronics said one of the main benefits of the deal is access to Ferranti’s “highly skilled” workforce. It will also enhance earnings, generating a return that will be above the group’s cost of capital from year one, it added. By year three, it expects to have generated about £400,000 of cost synergies.
Trading for TT Electronics’ 2021 financial year is in line with an update provided in late November, which said that it stands to make an adjusted operating profit of about £35m on revenue growth of about 10 per cent.
Consensus earnings forecasts of about 18p per share for its current year indicate that the company’s shares trade at just over 14-times earnings, in line with their five-year average. Although TT Electronics has (thus far) managed to pass on increased costs to customers, we maintain our hold recommendation until there are signs that supply chain pressures ease.
06 Jan 22. SatRevolution’s Values Increase With Series B Funding From Virgin Orbit. SatRevolution S.A. (“SatRev” or the “Company”), Polish developer and manufacturer of nanosatellites and nanosatellite technologies, announced that it has secured Series B funding (the “Transaction”) from Virgin Orbit, the U.S.-based responsive launch and space solutions company that has announced a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II (“NextGen”) (NASDAQ: NGCA). The Transaction values SatRev at approximately $150m, and will support SatRev’s business development.
The Transaction follows a strategic partnership established by SatRev and Virgin Orbit in June this year under which both companies seek to develop business applications for the use of nanosatellites. SatRev has to date launched two satellites with Virgin Orbit as part of the LauncherOne Tubular Bells: Part One mission. Two more SatRev satellites are awaiting launch as part of Virgin Orbit’s Above the Clouds mission launching next month. SatRev and Virgin Orbit plan to jointly offer up to 500kg of hosted payload services on LauncherOne rockets, turnkey solutions for rapid deployment of space services, and much more.
SatRev nanosatellite technologies include the Stork medium-resolution Earth observation platform and ScopeSat, a deployable high-resolution telescope with on-board processing capabilities. These technologies deliver near real-time and high-resolution Earth observation capabilities.
“The world needs Earth Observation data with higher revisit rates at more affordable prices, and SatRev will address that need,” said Grzegorz Zwolinski, co-founder and CEO of SatRev. “After four years of research and development by multi-disciplinary teams of scientists and engineers, we are ready to go to market. Our partnership with Virgin Orbit will help us to develop critical relationships with existing and new customers and to give us speed, momentum and the resilience to deliver over the long term.”
The total addressable global market for weekly mapping services could reach $140bn by 2026 according to Euroconsult. The key to successfully entering this market lies in the ability to monitor Earth at a high resolution, at a high frequency and at an accessible price. SatRev and Virgin Orbit intend to jointly address this market.
“Small satellites are now doing heavy lifting across the space sectors and as the technology has grown globally SatRev has been moving innovation forward at pace,” said Dan Hart, CEO of Virgin Orbit. “With our continued collaboration, Virgin Orbit and SatRev will drive capabilities into new markets, enabling applications for Earth observation and more — applications that yesterday were only dreams. Working together, we will continue Virgin Orbit’s mission of opening space for good.”
SatRev’s current customers and partners include innovators from around the globe, such as SkyWatch, Spiral Blue, Neumann Space, SkyServe, UP42, AIKO, and many more. In addition, many companies are currently testing the use of SatRev’s technologies for different uses. SatRev’s current pipeline of contracts exceeds $50m and it has already secured a backlog of orders to the value of approximately $18m.
The Transaction announced yesterday is expected to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2022. The total Series B fundraise is estimated to close at $30m. All existing shareholders and investors in SatRev will continue to hold their equity, and current SatRev shareholders will remain the majority owners of the Company at closing.
SatRevolution was founded in Poland in 2016 to focus on the emerging space market. The company specializes in the design, manufacture and operation of satellites as well as data analytics and is building a real-time Earth Observation constellation. Its goal is to become the largest worldwide operator of EO satellites, delivering 1,024 nanosatellites into Low Earth Orbit by 2026 to provide round-the-clock Earth Observation. In October 2019, the company established a consortium with Virgin Orbit and nearly a dozen Polish universities to design and carry out the world’s first dedicated commercial small satellite mission to Mars. In June 2021, SatRevolution placed two- satellites, STORK-4 and STORK-5 Marta, into Low Earth Orbit with the launches of STORK-3 and SteamSat-2 scheduled for December 2021. The company also plans to launch CubeSat, its first Omani nanosatellite by end 2022. (Source: Satnews)
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TCI International, Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SPX Corporation. TCI provides turn-key solutions for spectrum management and monitoring, direction finding, geolocation and communications intelligence to civilian, government, military and intelligence agencies as well as antennas for communications and high-power radio broadcasting. TCI is headquartered in Fremont, California, USA. For more information, visit www.tcibr.com.
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