Qinetiq to Buy Dominion Technology for $104.5 Million (Update1)
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Qinetiq Plc, the U.K.'s largest defense research company, agreed to buy Dominion Technology Resources Inc., a provider of services to the U.S. intelligence community, for $104.5 million to expand in North America.Qinetiq will pay cash for all of the stock of privately held Dominion Technology, the London-based company said today in a statement. Acquisition of the Reston, Virginia-based company is contingent on U.S. regulatory clearance.
``DTRI brings new customer relationships from within the U.S. intelligence community and provides us with further growth opportunities within the broader North American market,'' Qinetiq Chief Executive Officer Graham Love said in the statement.
Qinetiq, whose products include bomb-disposal robots and security scanners used at border crossings, is expanding globally as the U.K. opens its defense research budget to competition. The U.K. government formerly owned Qinetiq and remains its largest stockholder, with almost 19 percent of the outstanding shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
``It continues their expansion in North America, which is one of the key elements of their strategy,'' said Roger Johnston an analyst at Numis Securities Ltd. in a telephone interview today. ``More importantly it increases their exposure to the U.S. intelligence community.'' He has an ``add'' rating on the stock.
Qinetiq rose as much as 6.25 pence, or 3.1 percent, to 206.5 pence in London trading and was up 0.6 percent at 8:31 a.m., giving the company a market value of 1.3 billion pounds ($2.6 billion).
To contact the reporter on this story: Sabine Pirone in London at spirone@bloomberg.net