Trowbridge and Trowbridge announced on Monday that Enlightenment Capital completed the financial purchase of the company to fuel their continued growth and expansion. The McLean Group, a leading investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, advised Trowbridge & Trowbridge on its sale to Enlightenment Capital.

Cass Panciocco, the chief operating officer, is assuming the role of president and chief executive officer of Trowbridge. Panciocco will continue to focus on operations and business development, which focuses on delivering industry leading solutions to federal agencies in the defense and civil markets.

“Enlightenment is our ideal investment partner, as they understand the sector and share our vision to create a platform for service delivery excellence as we transition to the mid-tier,” Panciocco said. “This partnership strengthens Trowbridge’s capacity to pursue strategic growth initiatives and to invest in new capabilities required by our customers.â€

Panciocco has more than 30 years of experience providing cyber, business intelligence and unified communications solutions and services to federal government agencies. Before joining Trowbridge and Trowbridge, Panciocco served as the operating group president of ASRC Federal’s Information Systems and Technology group.

Under the purchase terms, the current Trowbridge management team will remain the same. Karen Trowbridge, Trowbridge’s founder, will support the company as a strategic advisor and serve on the company’s board of directors.

“The Trowbridge management team was receptive to Enlightenment’s financial backing to enable the company’s continued organic growth trajectory coupled with the exploration of future acquisitions,†said Karen Trowbridge. “Additionally, by making Trowbridge a platform, the Enlightenment team provided us the ability to maintain our culture and mission delivery focus which we have built over the last 12 years,†she added.

“We are very excited for both Trowbridge and Enlightenment and believe their combination will prove highly successful,†said Greg Nossaman, Senior Managing Director, The McLean Group. Greg Woodford, Senior Managing Director, The McLean Group, added, “Enlightenment’s industry knowledge and transaction sophistication will accelerate the company’s growth as a mid-tier.â€

In a deal announced Monday, Jacobs will acquire KeyW for $11.25 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at $815M, including $272M of KeyW debt, and involves two companies with interests in high level government cybersecurity contracts.

Jacobs, an engineering company based in Dallas, Texas, continues to acquire businesses in the GovCon sector focused on the cybersecurity market. Jacobs reported $15B in revenue during 2018. The merger will enable the company to expand its efforts in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sector which is projected to exceed $46B by 2024, according to a press statement from the company.

KeyW, based in Hanover, Maryland, is a leading national security provider of advanced engineering and technology solutions for the intelligence, cyber and counterterrorism communities. It collects intelligence data for government agencies. Founded in 2008, it has an estimated 1,800 employees. Its reported revenue for 2018 was $509M. Leaders from both companies explained the significance of the deal.

“As KeyW has steadily created growth and increasing profitability, we’ve considered how best to deploy capital to continue to support that growth.  Plugging into Jacobs now – at this point in our maturity – makes so much sense for our customer, our employees, and our shareholders,” said Bill Weber,  president and CEO of KeyW. “We’ve always known that of particularly importance to KeyW – and to our customers – is the culture of any potential acquirer.  In Jacob Engineering, we found an organization that values their people and leverages innovation on the same level that KeyW always has.  This is a great fit,” he added.

More than 75 percent of KeyW employees hold high level security level clearances. The deal increases the number of Jacobs employees with top secret clearance or higher by 50 percent with opportunities to expand business with the intelligence community.

“Jacobs’ global reach and proven track record executing large complex enterprise contracts provide a powerful platform to unleash KeyW’s complementary rapid technology development,” said Steve Demetriou, chair and CEO of Jacobs. “We are positioned to further accelerate KeyW’s success in leveraging its unique technical solutions and drive value creation for shareholders and customers alike, including a multi-billion-dollar space opportunity delivering next generation intelligence and analytics solutions.

Jacobs identified more than $100M of potential revenue within the federal customer base, both in current contract vehicles and from opportunities in their respective bid pipelines. It also sees an opportunity to cross-sell KeyW’s ISR and cyber capabilities in Jacobs’ buildings, infrastructure and advanced facilities business.