Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Savi Technology Inc. (Savi), a provider of active radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Savi, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has developed logistics solutions that track in-transit asset shipments. Its line of hardware and software products have been implemented by the U.S. Department of Defense, international defense agencies, civil agencies and commercial enterprises to monitor cargo shipments globally. Savi’s products include active RFID asset tags, high performance tags, sensor tags that monitor security and environmental conditions, and related fixed and mobile readers. Savi employs approximately 300 people.
The boards of directors of both Lockheed Martin and Savi’s parent company, Infolink Systems Inc., have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions (including antitrust review), and is expected to close in the second quarter. Savi will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin managed by Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions, based in Gaithersburg, Md.
“In February 2006, Savi announced that the U.S. DoD had increased its RFID II contract value with the company from $207.9 million to $424.5 million and had extended the ordering period for the company's active RFID products and services by another two years,” observes Adrian Gonzalez with ARC Advisory Group. “Therefore, considering Savi’s continued success in this segment and Lockheed Martin's strong presence in defense and military, this acquisition makes sense. Savi's existing activities and operations align well with Lockheed Martin's Integrated Systems & Solutions business segment which serves customers with joint and net-centric operations requiring overarching architectures, horizontal systems integration, software development and inter-connected capabilities for the gathering, processing, storage and delivery of on-demand information for mission management, modeling and simulation, and large-scale systems integration.”
