On Assignment, Inc is acquiring one of the largest privately-held government services contractors in the U.S., ECS Federal LLC.
On Assignment is paying $775 million in cash to buy the company from Roy Kapani, ECS’ majority owner and founder, and Lindsay Goldberg, a private investment firm.
On Assignment also said it’s changing its name to ASGN, reflecting its NYSE ticker symbol, as of April 2, 2018 -- the same day the ECS deal is expected to close.
ECS Background
ECS specializes in delivering artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, DevOps, IT modernization, and advanced science and engineering services to government enterprises.
ECS was founded in Fairfax, Virginia in 2001 as a national information technology solutions provider. The company designs, implements, and operationalizes security capabilities for some of the most highly-targeted government customers in the world. The company’s partners include some of the world’s leading cyber and cloud technology organizations. ECS has more than 2,000 employees across the United States.
Under the terms of the agreement, ECS will continue to operate under its own brand as a division of ASGN with the current leadership team. George Wilson will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the business and execution of its growth strategy, the company said.
On Assignment Background
On Assignment opened its doors in 1985 as a lab support staffing agency. The firm now provides staff to companies in tech, healthcare technology, digital, and life sciences industries. The company went public in June 2012. In 2015, On Assignment bought Los Angeles staffing firm Creative Circle.
Following the acquisition, ECS will be part of the publicly traded organization with pro forma combined revenues of $3.2 billion and $379 million in EBITDA, and 24,000+ professionals, with a total addressable market exceeding $279 billion.
Peter Dameris, CEO of On Assignment, says the company believes ECS is well positioned to achieve high single-digit growth in 2018.
The combined company will have more than 24,000 consultants, around 2,900 of those will have security clearance.
