Military VARs Targeting Wall Street

Solution providers that focus on military projects, many of whom are seeing an increase in work in the wake of the Bush administration's war on terrorism, are heading to Wall Street in an effort to find IPO success.

The most recent is IT solution provider Anteon, which is looking to make a run to the public markets, with plans to raise up to $230 million in an initial public offering later this year.

Anteon's move to file for an IPO came only days after another government-focused solution provider, Integrated Defense Technologies, filed its own S-1 for an offering it hopes will raise up to $125 million.

Anteon, which ranked 85th on the 2001 VARBusiness 500 listing of the industry's top solution providers, filed an S-1 in late December for the public offering, which is being underwritten by Goldman, Sachs and Co., Bear, Stearns, Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

The Fairfax, Va.-based company, which recorded more than $580 million in revenue for 2000 and brought in $526 million in revenue for the first nine months ended Sept. 30, 2001, works with about 600 federal government clients. Its largest federal customer is the U.S. Navy, which recently awarded the company with a $20.8 IT services contract.

Integrated Defense Technologies makes electronic combat systems, diagnostics and power systems and communications and surveillance systems for the U.S. military.

It looks like both Anteon and Integrated defense Technologies are hoping to capitalize on the same success as fellow VARBusiness 500 solution provider CACI International (VARBusiness 500 rank 95). CACI, which generated more than $560 million in 2001 revenue, has seen its shares almost quadruple in the past year, from just over $11 a share in January 2001 to more than $41 a share.