Fergie's Tech Blog

SAIC to go IPO

Renae Merle writes in The Washington Post:

Science Applications International Corp., the largest privately held defense contractor, announced yesterday that it would go public early next year,aiming to raise $1.7 billion for insiders cashing in on the post-Sept. 11 government spending boom that fueled the firm's growth.

The public offering would rival Google Inc.'s $1.8 billion deal in 2004 in size and be the largest IPO of a government contractor in many years. The chief beneficiaries will be SAIC's more than 35,000 shareholders, which include many current and former employees, some of whom stand to make millions of dollars. The company has 16,000 employees in the Washington region.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the San Diego-based company outlined its government work, which accounted for 87 percent of its $7.2 billion in revenue last year. Many of the company's 10,000 contracts are with the Defense Department, where it is known not for weapons, but for managing large projects to integrate information technology systems, including several in the intelligence field.

posted by Fergie @ 9/01/2005 08:43:00 PM