Virginia Business Online: For the Record, February 2003

This report is compiled from company releases, business journals and newspapers from around the state. If you have an item for these listings please:

mail it to:
For the Record
Virginia Business Magazine
P.O. Box 85333
Richmond, VA 23293

or e-mail it to ForTheRecord@va-business.com,
or fax it to (804) 649-6311

Mergers and Acquisitions
DynCorp, an employee-owned information technology and outsourcing firm headquartered in Falls Church, is being acquired by Computer Sciences Corp., an El Segundo, Calif.-based IT services company. The acquisition is valued at about $950 million. (PR Newswire)

Lanford Brothers Co., a Roanoke-based construction services provider, purchased 100 percent of the stock of Kirk-Neal Inc., a guard rail and sign erection contractor previously based in Quinque.

Webb Technologies of Norfolk and Colonial Mechanical Corp. of Richmond, providers of commercial and industrial HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing and process piping construction and service, were acquired by Howard Webb Sr. and family from First Energy, an Akron, Ohio-based utility. (PR Newswire)

Wilton Properties Inc., a Richmond-based real estate development and property-management company was acquired by a group of investors, one of which was the real estate development company, Southern Financial Corp., also of Richmond. The value of the transaction was pegged at more than $150 million. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

New Plants and Companies
AttoTek, a research and development software contractor of Culpeper, plans to create 40 jobs through a $1.2 million investment in a 10,000-square-foot facility on State Route 684. (Press release)

Axiom Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced engineered ceramic materials for devices for defense, plans to locate its headquarters in Martinsville, creating 250 jobs through a $5 million investment. Virginia competed with Nevada and Maine for the project. (Press release)

Competitive Innovations of Culpeper, a web solutions company, plans to create 40 jobs over the next three years through a $1 million investment in 10,000 square feet of retail space. (Press release)

EnVirtue Biotechnologies Inc., a developer of technologies for solving environmental challenges, plans to locate in Winchester, creating 12 jobs through a $1.5 million investment. Virginia competed with California and South Carolina for this investment. (Press release)

InterActive Financial Marketing Group of Rhode Island, a procurer of special finance customers from the Internet who visit such trademarked marquees as CARLOAN.COM and 1-800-AUTO-LOAN®, moved its headquarters to Richmond. (Press release)

Space Imaging, a Thornton, Colo.-based provider of Earth imagery and related services to commercial and government markets, plans to open a federal sales office in Reston. (PR Newswire)

Verizon, a provider of communications services, plans to create 61 jobs in Wise County through a $3.3 million investment in the Lonesome Pine Technology Center. Virginia competed with New Jersey and West Virginia for the project. (Press release)

Contracts
Anteon International Corp., Fairfax: $27.5 million over five years from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, S.C., to provide its Electromagnetic Environmental Effects Program that will support defense and other agencies. (Press release)

Anteon International Corp., Fairfax: $10 million for two task orders from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, to provide technology services and program management support. (PR Newswire)

Anteon International Corp., Fairfax: $37 million over six years from the U.S. Army Intelligence Center to train operators and maintenance personnel for the Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. (Press release)

Alliant Techsystems, Minneapolis, Minn.: $42 million over three years from the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center to produce propellant for the Modular Artillery Charge System M231 Propelling Charge. The propellant will be produced at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Radford. (PR Newswire)

Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif.: $23 million with one base year and three one-year options to support the Missile Defense Agency in the development of advanced capabilities for the ballistic defense system. Work will be performed in Arlington and an additional six-year term valued at more than $36 million may be awarded on a performance basis. (PR Newswire)

DynCorp, Reston: $1 billion over ten years through its joint venture, LANDMARC Support Services, with Interserve (fm), from the British Ministry of Defense, to provide management of facilities for the Army Training Estate. (Press release)

General Dynamics Decision Systems, Falls Church: $8 million worth of newest Combat Search And Rescue radios, which provide downed pilots and search and rescue teams from U.S., NATO and other military forces with a greater level of communication interoperability. (PR Newswire)

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Falls Church: $221 million cumulative value if all options are exercised from the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs Office to develop and support the new SSGN Attack Weapon Control System and the Trident Backfit Fire Control System. (PR Newswire)

General Dynamics Electric Boat, Falls Church: $38.3 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy to procure and manufacture long-lead time material for the Trident SSGN, a multi-mission submarine optimized for covert strike and special operations support. (PR Newswire)

GTSI Corp., Chantilly: $20 million five-year blanket purchase agreement under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule to provide the Department of State with hardware, software and support for its domestic and worldwide operations. (Business Wire)

Halifax Corp., Alexandria: $5 million over one to three years to provide services to the Virginia Retirement System, several high availability systems customers and a new secure network program for a federal customer within the Department of Defense. (PR Newswire)

Nextel Communications Inc., Reston: $200 million per year with a two-year base period with three one-year options from the U.S. General Services Administration to provide nationwide Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio services to all federal agencies, as well as state and local agencies with federal funding. (Business Wire)

NORSHIPCO, Norfolk: $21.7 million from the Supervisor of Shipbuilding and Repair for work on the Navy’s aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy. Work is scheduled to begin in January 2003 and to be completed by September 2003. Norshipco previously won a $10 million contract for work on the Kennedy. (PR Newswire)

Sensytech, Newington: Two contracts valued at $12 million: $8.9 million if all options are exercised from General Dynamics for production of Surface Ship Torpedo Defense System to support new ship construction for the U.S. Navy. The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded $3.1 million to support the incorporation and production of engineering change improvements for existing and future Surface Ship Torpedo Defense Systems. (Business Wire)

Sensytech, Newington: $2.5 million to its Defense Systems Group for the development and delivery of the AN/DPT-2B-based Emulator Payload devices for the simulation of aircraft radars and missile threats for an international customer. (Business Wire)

Sensytech, Newington: $3.5 million to its Communications Group for communications equipment. (Press release)

SRA International, Fairfax: $18.9 million over two years if all options are exercised under the Chief Information Officer Solutions and Partners 2 Innovation contract, to assist the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in managing and monitoring the development, implementation, operation, maintenance, technical support and enhancement of the expanded Federal Parent Locator Service. (PR Newswire)

Turner Construction Co., Dallas, Texas: contract awarded to the Mid-Atlantic office in Richmond to build a $135 million Virginia Beach Convention Center. (Press release)

VERSAR Inc., Springfield: $6.5 million over five years from the Navy to support the integration of network-centric data management systems at military test and training ranges in the U.S. utilizing VERSAR’s proprietary “Next Generation Management Information System”. (PR Newswire)

Divestitures
The AES Corp., a global power company based in Arlington, entered into agreements to sell its two Australian generation businesses in transactions valued at $295 million. Origin Energy and a consortium of Babcock & Brown and Prime Infrastructure Group are the buyers. (Business Wire)

Expansions
Cendant Corp. of New York, a provider of real estate and travel services, plans to open a human resources call center in Virginia Beach, creating 100 jobs in a few years through a $2.5 million investment. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Comcast Cable, a cable provider headquartered in Philadelphia, plans to open a customer service support center in Henrico County, creating 120 jobs in the 120,000-square-foot facility. Service calls will begin this month. (PR Newswire)

General Dynamics Land Systems, a contractor for the design and build of the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle for the U.S. Marine Corps, plans to occupy 58,000 square feet of space at the Worth Avenue Technology Annex. The Prince William County investment is valued at $9 million. (Press release)

The Rutherfoord Companies of Roanoke, brokerage and risk management consultants, opened its first Atlanta office in the The Preston Ridge II Complex. (Press release)

Real Estate
Prentiss Properties Trust of Dallas, a full-service real estate company, bought the 10-story, 263,990-square-foot AMS Building in Fairfax for $55 million. (Business Wire)

High Performance Technologies Inc., an information technology firm headquartered in Arlington, leased the entire eleventh floor of Two Freedom Square in the Reston Town Center where its headquarters will be relocated. (Press release)

The Bernstein Companies of Washington, D.C., a real estate firm, acquired Ballston Tower in Arlington for $53 million through its newly created $100 million Consortium Three equity fund. (Press release)

Witt Mares & Co., an accounting firm based in Newport News, leased a 9,800-square-foot space on the 11th floor of 150 W. Main St. in Norfolk. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Financing
Comerica, a financial services provider headquartered in Reston, and McLean-based Realeum Inc., a software maker for the multifamily housing industry, announced that Comerica’s Technology and Life Sciences Division provided Realeum with a $1.5 million term loan to be used to purchase equipment to accommodate its additional customers. (PR Newswire)

Digital Harbor Inc. of Annandale, an enterprise software company, completed a $10 million round of financing with Insight Venture Partners, a New York-based venture capital firm focusing exclusively in the software sector. (Business Wire)

Emotion Inc., a software and services firm headquartered in Vienna, raised $2.5 million from investors to be used to boost sales and marketing and added a handful of employees. (Potomac Tech Journal)

The Mills Corp. of Arlington, a self-managed real estate investment trust, agreed to sell 4,000,000 shares of common stock to Salomon Smith Barney, a full-service financial firm and subsidiary of Citigroup. The proceeds of approximately $115 million are to be used to fund the equity for the Cadillac Fairview and Riverside Square acquisitions announced in December. (Business Wire)

Resource Bankshares Corp., a Virginia Beach-based parent holding company of Resource Bank, a commercial bank with branches in various Virginia locations, plans to repurchase a limited amount of the company’s common stock. (PR Newswire)

Sensytech Inc., a designer, developer and manufacturer of electronic support measures based in Newington, sold an additional 300,000 shares of common stock to the underwriters of its previously announced public offering. (Press release)

SkyBitz Inc. of Dulles, a developer of satellite tracking technology, closed an $18 million round of funding led by Industrial Technology Ventures and the investment fund sponsored by American International Group Inc., an international insurance and financial services organization. (The Washington Post)

Legal
Allied Research Corp., a diversified defense and security firm headquartered in Vienna, plans to change its corporate name to “The Allied Defense Group Inc.” in order to better reflect the nature of its business. The current ticker symbol will change from “ALR” to “ADG” on the American Stock Exchange. (PR Newswire)

Dominion’s proposed Greenbrier natural-gas pipeline does meet the need for new energy supplies and competition in the South Atlantic region, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The $487 million, 279-mile pipeline delivering more than 580 million cubic feet of gas per day from Kanawha County, W. Va., to Granville County, N.C., will be operational in mid-2005 pending final approval from the FERC. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Maid Bess Corp. of Salem, a woman-owned contract manufacturer of sewn products and provider of labor services, changed its name to Integrated Textile Solutions Inc. to reposition the company in the textile industry. (Press release)

Massey Energy Co. of Richmond, a coal producer, reported that two of its subsidiaries, Independence Coal Co. and Omar Mining Co., reached settlement agreements for a total of $400,000 with the U.S. government regarding previously disclosed misdemeanor charges under the federal Clean Water Act. (PR Newswire)

NTP Inc., a holding company based in Virginia, was awarded $23 million by a federal jury for patent infringement by Research in Motion, a Canadian-based high-tech company. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s request to build a power plant in Fauquier County was approved by the State Corporation Commission. The cost is estimated at $289 million and will produce up to 700 megawatts of electricity from the burning of either natural gas or oil in a combustion turbine. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Verizon Communications, a communications services provider, received approval from the Federal Communications Commission to offer long-distance service in Virginia. (PR Newswire)