Although the details are scarce, the Centreville, Virginia-based Parsons Corp. announced today it confidentially filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering.
The company, which provides security, intellectual property and engineering services to government clients and is known for building airports and subways, submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 relating to a propose IPO of its common stock. Parsons said the IPO will start after SEC completes its review and is subject to market conditions.
The number of shares and price ranges for the proposed offerings have not been determined yet, but earlier this month, Reuters reported the offering would likely value the company at around $3 billion, according to people familiar with the plan. It was also reported that deal could start in April or May.
Marc Marlin, managing director of investment bank KippsDeSanto & Co., said a Parsons IPO represents the current market strength and optimism toward the government contracting market.
“Strong public valuations for the sector and the broader market encourages larger firms that are capable to tap public capital to achieve liquidity where appropriate, but more so fuel continued investment for growth,” Marlin said. “Recent consolidation in the market has also presented an opportunity for new public market entrants given the ongoing institutional investment interest in the space.”
He also said the addition of a public company the quality of Parsons should capture the attention from Wall Street and capital providers. Overall, Marlin thinks this would benefit GovCon sector-wide.
In January, Parsons announced it acquired OGSystems, a provider of geospatial intelligence, big data analytics and threat mitigation, making it Parsons’ third acquisition in the past 14 months.