Jacobs’ government contracting segment, which is up for sale, accounted for 42% of the entire company’s business in fiscal year 2022, according to a recent investor presentation.
Another Department of Energy weapons complex contractor, Amentum, is reportedly in the running to acquire Jacobs’ contracting business. There are at least two other suitors in the running, investment houses Veritas Capital and Platinum Equity. Neither of those replied to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon. Amentum has previously declined to comment.
In an article, posted behind a paywall, Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Platinum Equity appears to be the favorite to obtain the Jacobs government services line.
Among Jacobs’ four business lines, Critical Mission Solutions is second only to the People & Places Solutions infrastructure segment, according to the investor presentation. Critical Mission brought in about $4.4 billion in fiscal 2022, with 82% of that coming from customers in the U.S.
But in the third quarter of fiscal 2023, Critical Mission’s operating profit as a percentage of Jacobs revenue was a little more than 8%, much as it was a year ago, which ranks it no better than third among the four groups, according to the September presentation.
Jacobs fiscal year is patterned after the federal government, starting Oct. 1 and running through the following Sept. 30.
The company’s key government services customers include AT&T, the Australian Department of Defence; United Kingdom Ministry of Defence; the U.S. intelligence community, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Energy and others, according to the company document. Nearly 80% of the segment’s business is reimbursable and it is “poised to thrive independently.”
Dallas-based Jacobs said in May it plans to spin off the Critical Mission Solutions group in fiscal 2024. Once divested, the remaining Jacobs company will be a $10.5-billion business focusing on water and the environment, the energy transition away from fossil fuels, transportation and advanced manufacturing.
Of course, not every potential corporate deal gets made.
In February 2020, another Texas-based company, Fluor, called off the sale of its government contracting business after announcing plans to divest the business in September 2019.
