ASGN Inc. has acquired Blackstone Technology Group‘s federal division in an $85 million cash deal to be immediately integrated into ASGN’s ECS government IT solutions and services segment.
Blackstone Federal was founded in Arlington, Virginia, has 100 technical and creative consultants and delivers agile application development, cloud modernization and systems architecture, cybersecurity, user experience design and branding services to government clients.
The company has 18 years of experience providing technical support to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagencies, including serving as the prime contractor on the Architecture, Development, and Platform Technical Services Blanket Purchase Agreement. In 2019, Blackstone Federal generated $44 million in revenues and is expected to grow over 10% in 2020.
Blackstone Federal will now be a part of ECS’ enterprise solutions group, which delivers digital solutions to federal civilian customers.
ECS President George Wilson said the company welcomes the Blackstone Federal team.
“Both ECS and Blackstone Federal share innovative and solutions-driven cultures focused on the customer, collaboration, and quick decision-making,” he said. “We’ve also both worked hard to deliver the most powerful technologies, tools, and strategies to our DHS customers. With our combined technologies and depth of talent, we will accomplish even more together.”
ASGN President and CEO Ted Hanson said Blackstone Federal’s team and solution offerings are an excellent addition to the company’s growing ECS segment, which focuses on large and complex IT solutions for federal customers.
“This acquisition fits perfectly with ASGN’s hybrid growth and capital allocation strategy, to scale ECS to over $1 billion in revenue through a combination of strong organic growth and complementary acquisitions in strategic technologies, capabilities, customers, and contract areas that together will enable us to even further enhance the solutions we provide to our customers,” he said.
In connection with closing the deal, ASGN will be granting restricted stock unit awards to seven Blackstone Federal employees for a total of 31,000 shares. The grants will vest one-half on the second anniversary of the grant date and 25% on each of the third and fourth anniversaries of the grant date, subject to continued service to ASGN.
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP served as ASGN’s legal counsel on the transaction, DC Advisory served as exclusive financial
adviser to Blackstone Technology Group and DLA Piper LLP served as its legal counsel.