MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS SUPPORT - Support

For more than 15 years, ARDAK has supported clients by screening for acquisition candidates, analyzing candidates, recommending due diligence, and supporting the due diligence process. The following highlights summarize significant ARDAK capabilities and achievements in this area.

• Candidate Search and Screening:
  Client-stipulated criteria regarding size, location, business base, technology base, profitability, backlog, and program involvement are employed to search entire industry sectors, identifying hundreds of potential clients. These are then screened by applying increasingly stringent criteria to identify the superior candidates.
• Candidate Analysis:
  Acquisition candidates identified by clients or through ARDAK screening are analyzed in detail. Business bases are combined with those of prospective acquirers, identifying new programs, customers, and products/services, as well as areas of overlap. The latter are analyzed to determine if they represent synergy, contention, or neutral impact.
• Acquisitions Supported:
  ARDAK has supported Carlyle Group, Contel, GTE, Hughes, Lockheed Martin, Loral, Matra, Thomson-CSF, and many others in identifying and/or analyzing M&A possibilities. For a list of specific examples, see M&A Involvement.
• Defense Mergers & Acquisitions (DM&A):
  Supported by InfoBase Publishers, Inc., ARDAK maintains the most extensive and current database available from any source on mergers and acquisitions in the defense and aerospace markets. Worldwide in scope, DM&A includes a total of more than 7,800 mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Available in database (CD ROM), supported by monthly newsletter and periodic updates. See Infobase Publishers' web site.

ARDAK's involvement in this important aspect of business has supported clients large and small including some of the largest companies in the defense and aerospace industry. While work currently underway cannot be identified due to its confidential nature, this type of analysis remains an important area of ARDAK support.

Although some are dated, the following examples demonstrate ARDAK's capability to quantitatively combine and compare acquisition candidates and acquiring entities. For examples, examine any of the following:

• Loral/Ford Aerospace - Overall profile of each and resultant combination
• Raytheon/Hughes - Combined customer base
• Raytheon/Hughes - Combined program base
• "Company A" and "Company B" - Areas of dominance and overlap