A report by financial services company Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) shows that 122 mergers and acquisitions occurred in the defense and government market during the second quarter of 2024, a 63 percent increase from the prior-year period and an 11 percent rise from the previous quarter.
The August report was issued by Raymond James’ defense and government investment banking team, where 2024 Wash100 awardee Sam Maness and Andy McEnroe serve as managing directors.
Defense and Government M&A Activity
Raymond James’ latest market intel report indicates that the government services sector accounted for 38 percent of the 122 M&A deals, followed by the government and defense technology segment at 32 percent and aerospace and space/manufacturing sector at 30 percent.
In July alone, 33 M&A transactions took place in the market with the aerospace and space/manufacturing segment accounting for 36 percent of the deals.
When it comes to M&A activity breakdown by buyer type, private equity firms represented 58 percent and strategic acquirers accounted for 42 percent of the transactions in Q2 2024.
Among the major M&A transactions cited in the report are the proposed acquisition of Enlightenment Capital-backed Aeyon by CGI’s (NYSE: GIB) U.S. federal arm, Parsons’ (NYSE: PSN) purchase of BlackSignal Technologies and Neovera’s move to buy Emagined Security.
Contract Awards in Defense and Government Market
The Raymond James report listed some of the major defense and government contracts awarded to GovCon companies in July.
These include a potential $30 billion contract awarded by National Nuclear Security Administration to PanTeXas Deterrence to manage and operate the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, a $2.4 billion contract secured by Deloitte Consulting from the General Services Administration to help meet the submarine workforce and industrial base requirement and a $2.3 billion NASA contract that calls for Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to build a constellation of Geostationary Extended Observations weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Market Performance of Public Defense and Government Services Companies
The report also showed the stock and financial performances of publicly traded companies in government services, defense technology, space and satellite and diversified IT markets.
Some of those public companies are Boeing (NYSE: BA), CACI International (NYSE: CACI), Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), ICF (Nasdaq: ICFI), L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX), Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), RTX (NYSE: RTX) and Science Applications International Corp. (Nasdaq: SAIC).
