D.C. private equity firm sells Chantilly tech firm for $827M

KBR Inc. buys Centauri from Arlington Capital Partners

Published August 19, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners announced Wednesday it has agreed to sell Chantilly-based technology contractor Centauri to Houston-based KBR Inc. (a former Halliburton subsidiary) for $827 million. 

The acquisition will expand KBR’s presence in the military space, defense modernization and cybersecurity sectors, according to the engineering, procurement and construction company. 

“KBR’s acquisition of Centauri furthers the company’s mission to becoming a highly technical, mission-focused organization and expands KBR into exciting new and adjacent vectors,” KBR President and CEO Stuart Bradie said in a statement “The addition of Centauri makes KBR a leader in end-to-end military, intelligence and commercial space solutions by increasing scale and adding complementary expertise and space domain awareness to our strong space system design, development, test, launch and operations.”

The acquisition will also add Centauri’s workforce of more than 1,750 people across 22 locations to KBR.

“During our partnership, Centauri achieved dramatic growth and, through unique subject matter expertise along with aggressive investments in technology, solidified its role as a strategic asset to the national security community,” Arlington Capital Partner David Wodlinger said in a statement. “Centauri was purpose-built to solve the most complicated space and directed energy challenges faced by our country, a strategy that will only be enhanced by KBR’s scale, strong management team and shared focus on quality and culture.”

Jefferies LLC served as the financial adviser to Centauri, and Holland & Knight served as legal adviser in connection with the transaction. Hogan Lovells US LLP advised KBR in the transaction. Arlington Capital Partners is currently investing out of Arlington Capital Partners V L.P., a $1.7 billion fund. The firm has managed approximately $4.0 billion of capital through five investment funds.

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