Houlihan Lokey Advises Gibbs & Cox

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Gibbs & Cox, Inc., has been acquired by Leidos, Inc., for $380 million. The transaction closed on May 7, 2021.

Gibbs & Cox is a leading engineering and design firm specializing in naval architecture and marine engineering. Since its founding in 1929, the company has developed some of the most recognized and innovative vessel designs and naval capabilities to meet the highly complex needs of its government and commercial customers. Gibbs & Cox’s 525+ engineers, architects, and designers are widely regarded as among the most talented and experienced in the world. The company has designed more than 70% of the U.S. Navy’s current surface combatant fleet over the past several decades and has more recently expanded its reach to include various international defense markets. Gibbs & Cox is at the front end of multiple next-generation vessel platforms entering design and production, supporting a long revenue tail that will extend multiple decades. Additionally, Gibbs & Cox is a leading technical solution provider in the emerging market for autonomous naval vessel solutions, which is a significant national defense priority.

Leidos is a Fortune 500® information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company’s 39,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of $12.3 billion for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2021.

The acquisition of Gibbs & Cox will extend Leidos’ existing maritime business and add specific capabilities and services, such as naval architecture and marine engineering, 3D modeling and design, and specialty engineering, to the solution set that Leidos currently offers to its customers.

Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor to Gibbs & Cox and assisted in marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on behalf of the company. This transaction further demonstrates our Aerospace, Defense & Government Services (ADG) team’s strong momentum advising market-leading companies with significant competitive barriers to entry, specialized capabilities, and scale in their respective end markets. Since the beginning of 2020, the team has closed more than 25 transactions worth nearly $5.6 billion in enterprise value.