General Dynamics To Acquire IT Firm CSRA In $9.6 Billion Deal

Defense contractor General Dynamics and Information technology firm CSRA today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which General Dynamics will acquire all outstanding shares of CSRA for $40.75 in cash.

The transaction is valued at $9.6 billion, including the assumption of $2.8 billion in CSRA debt, the press release states.

"The acquisition of CSRA represents a significant strategic step in expanding the capabilities and customer base of GDIT," said Phebe Novakovic, chairman and chief executive officer of General Dynamics. "CSRA's management team has created an outstanding provider of innovative, next-generation IT solutions with industry-leading margins. We see substantial opportunities to provide cost-effective IT solutions and services to the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and federal civilian agencies. The combination enables GDIT to grow revenue and profits at an accelerated rate. It will allow us to deliver even more innovative, leading-edge solutions to our customers."

Larry Prior, chief executive officer and president of CSRA, said, "Our combination with General Dynamics represents an excellent outcome for CSRA's stockholders, employees and customers. It builds on strong shared values, culture and a passion for serving our customers' missions. We believe that this combination creates a clear, differentiated leader in the Federal IT sector, with a full spectrum of enterprise IT capabilities, including unique depth in Next-Gen offerings in conjunction with our commercial IT alliance partners."

Novakovic continued, "I am very pleased to welcome CSRA's talented leadership team and employees. This combination brings together two industry leaders with highly complementary capabilities to create a strong business with approximately $9.9 billion in revenue and double-digit EBITDA margins in the consolidating Government Technology Services sector."

General Dynamics expects the transaction to be accretive to GAAP earnings per share and to free cash flow per share in 2019, and expects to generate estimated annual pre-tax cost savings of approximately 2 percent of the combined company's revenue by 2020. We are committed to maintaining our strong credit ratings and using our robust cash flow for reduction of debt from the transaction, continuation of our dividend policy and the flexible deployment of capital, including ongoing investment in the business.