ACG National Capital
Even with temperatures well below freezing and record snowfall on the ground, there was still some hot deal activity in the National Capital region last week. Below are highlights of the latest regional business news and trends, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions – as well as other corporate growth events – in the D.C. area.
This week we look at comments from Capital One CEO – Richard Fairbank – who claims there are no current signs of recession, we explore the details of Leidos’ $5B deal with Lockheed Martin, and cover local genomics big data company, CosmosID, raising $6M.
Here is what happened in regional business news this week:
Leidos’ $5B deal with Lockheed Martin is about more than just scale
The most obvious explanation for why Leidos Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LDOS) made a deal for Lockheed Martin Corp.’s (NYSE: LMT) Information Systems & Global Solutions business to create a $10 billion government services giant is scale.
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RSM’s Chuck Carr discusses Corporate Growth in the Nation’s Capital during 2015 and the Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference
…We interviewed Chuck Carr, an audit partner and the Washington Metro technology and life sciences industry practices leader at RSM US LLP (RSM). During our discussion with Chuck, he discussed corporate growth in the National Capital region in 2015, what drove growth in the technology and life sciences sector, and what business leaders can expect from the Technology showcase at the 2016 ACG Mid-Atlantic Growth Conference.
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D.C.-area job growth outpaced the nation’s rate last year
The D.C. metropolitan area added about 68,500 jobs in 2015, a 2.2 percent growth in jobs that outpaced the national growth rate of 1.9 percent, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor statistics. Professional business services led the way with 26,200 new jobs — most of them in Northern Virginia — while healthcare and construction showed significant gains in Maryland.
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Infectious disease diagnostics company CosmosID raises $6M
Rockville-based CosmosID Inc., a genomic big data company focused on infectious disease diagnostics, raised $6 million in Series B funding, it was announced Wednesday. CosmosID developed a platform that can conduct a single test for microorganisms, including rapid screening for multidrug resistant organisms known as superbugs. Company officials say they plan to use the funding to expand engineering capabilities and develop new products for monitoring, predicting and preventing disease outbreaks.
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Why Booz Allen and other industry ‘middle heavyweights’ won’t chase Leidos to $10 billion in revenue
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. (NYSE: BAH) was never attempting to be the largest player in the government services space. That’s what it maintained in an earnings call Wednesday, and this gives some insight into why the McLean-based government consulting company dropped out of the running to acquire$5 billion in government IT assets spun off from Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT), which ultimately went to Leidos Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LDOS).
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Why investors are following Musk, Bezos in betting on the stars
Last year, when Google and Fidelity invested $1 billion into Elon Musk’s SpaceX, one of the company’s earliest backers also wanted to get in on the latest round of funding. But SpaceX ever-so politely asked Steve Jurvetson’s Silicon Valley venture capital firm to kindly hold off. SpaceX, one of the hottest enterprises in the rising commercial space industry, suddenly could afford to turn money away.
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Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank sees no signs of recession
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) CEO Richard Fairbank doesn’t see any signs of a recession in 2016. Fairbank said in an earnings call with analysts Tuesday that none of the company’s financial indicators are giving them “cause for concern” despite recent turmoil in the stock markets and concerns about the global economy.
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