Will TRW make a takeover bid for IDX this fall?
Here's an extended excerpt from the Defense Daily of May 14:
"TRW plans to start making niche acquisitions to bolster its information technology and services businesses after the company concludes its strategic review in early July, according to a senior executive.
"'Certainly, we are thinking about [purchases] right now and looking at things, but . . . it's very hard to predict how long they are going to take . . . Philip Odeen, the executive vice president and general manager of TRW's Systems and Information Technology Group told reporters [May 13]. 'I wouldn't expect that the [day after the review is finished] we will announce an acquisition, but I would certainly hope that over the course of the fall we will see some results.'
"Commercial acquisitions are the highest priority for the company, Odeen said, because TRW wants to expand its opportunities in the rapidly growing market for commercial information technology (IT) products and services.
. . .
"The underlying strategy will be to acquire firms that would bolster TRW's competitiveness in specific market areas and programs, Odeen said . . . . According to Odeen, key growth areas include its traditional military business, military and commercial outsourcing of services, as well as emerging technologies such as fingerprint identification systems.
"As for commercial opportunities, . . . the company is leveraging its technological capabilities, for example, into fingerprint recognition systems which have potential applications in both public and private sectors. Lockheed Martin has also set its sights on the fingerprint recognition market."
* * *
It looks like a good, potential fit to me. I would rather they wait a year or two, but from the TRW perspective they can get in earlier on the ground floor, and cheaper, if they move now. IDX has AFIS applications (like TRW), commercial possibilities with Sylvan, software smart card/e-commerce possibilities, and is big enough to make the radar screen of a large company like TRW. Here are warning signs to look for: (1) TRW selects IDX for the UK project. (Remember how IDX used BAT for O'Hare before buying them out?) (2) TRW starts buying up IDX stock. |
