Parsons Corp eyes more acquisitions

Parsons Corporation, which recently acquired cyber and electronic warfare firm BlackHorse Solutions, and positioning, navigation, and timing device provider Echo Ridge, is poised to conduct additional acquisitions to fill capability gaps, according to the chief executive of the US-based government technology company.

“We have a very low leverage … so we've got the balance sheet to be able to do more acquisitions,” Parsons president and CEO Carey Smith said on 17 November. “That's our number one focus as far as capital deployment.”

For Parsons' defence-heavy Federal Solutions business segment, potential acquisition areas include C5ISR, cyber, missile defence, and space, Smith said at Baird's Government & Defense Conference.

In July 2021 Parsons paid USD203 million for BlackHorse and USD9 million for Echo Ridge. While Parsons typically does not buy small businesses like Echo Ridge, it concluded that the acquisition would cost less money and take less time than developing Echo Ridge-like capabilities on its own, Smith said.