A mainstay within the Department of Energy’s weapons complex along with two private equity firms are in the running to land Jacobs’ multi-billion-dollar government contracting branch, Reuters reported this week.
The news service reported Wednesday Virginia-based Amentum along with two financial firms, Veritas Capital and Platinum Equity, are seeking to acquire the Critical Mission Solutions business from Dallas-based Jacobs.
Those three companies are suitors for the Critical Mission business, where Jacobs silos its government contracting business worth an estimated $4 billion, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the goings-on.
Reuters quoted sources as saying Amentum’s owners, Lindsay Goldberg and American Securities, plan to offer up shares of Amentum to bolster their bid.
“Per company policy, we do not comment on rumors or speculations,” Amentum spokesperson Keith Wood said in a Friday email reply to an Exchange Monitor inquiry.
Jacobs did not immediately respond to a Friday morning request for comment.
Veritas Capital says on its website that it seeks to invest in businesses within the “intersection of technology and government.” Aptim, which leads a team building a mercury-treatment facility at the DOE Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, is part of its portfolio.
Platinum Equity is involved in mergers and acquisitions. A quick scan of its portfolio turned up companies involved in aviation, metal and gold and electronics. A couple of its more recognizable names include Jostens, purveyors of high school yearbooks and class rings, along with the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association.
Amentum, like Jacobs, is a well-known presence within the DOE nuclear contractor community.
Amentum-led joint ventures have contracts for both radioactive tank waste management and Central Plateau Cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Likewise, an Amentum-led team, with Jacobs as one of its partners, is in charge of remediation of the Oak Ridge Site.
Jacobs or its CH2M subsidiary, which it bought in 2017, head contractor teams doing cleanup at the Idaho National Laboratory, the Paducah Site in Kentucky and the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state.
As at Amentum formation in January 2020, when the New York investment firms bought the Management Services division of Los Angeles-based AECOM, a Jacobs government division sale would likely mean one less publicly-traded contractor doing significant business in the weapons complex.
In May, Jacobs said it was looking to spin off the business. In August, Jacobs reported Critical Mission Solutions brought in $99 million in segment income for the quarter ended, June 30, down $11 million from the prior year results, while revenue for the segment was up $100 million to $1.2 billion, from the year-ago results.
“We remain dedicated to maximizing long-term shareholder value and continue to advance the separation of our Critical Mission Solutions business,” Bob Pragada, Jacobs CEO, said at the time.
