Arlington Capital Partners has entered into an agreement to acquire the Defense & Security business of publicly-traded iRobot Corporation. The transaction, which is expected to close in the next few months, is valued at up to $45 million.
Arlington Capital will operate the business under a yet to be named newly created company. Upon closing, according to Arlington Capital, the business will be the largest provider of ground-based robots to the US Department of Defense and will have a growing presence in the security, industrial and international defense markets.
The business currently sells four-classes of robots – FirstLook, SUGV (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle), PackBot and Kobra. Each robot class provides different capabilities and operates in different environments. Since inception, more than 6,000 of these robots have been delivered to customers worldwide. The organization will continue to be based northwest of Boston in Bedford, MA. Click HERE for the website of the Defense & Security business of iRobot.
Once the transaction closes, Sean Bielat will be named CEO of the business and Tom Frost, currently SVP & GM of iRobot’s Defense & Security business, will be named President. Mr. Bielat previously worked at iRobot as Program Manager and Director of Business Development from June 2006 to November 2009. “I am thrilled to be rejoining such an amazing organization,” said Mr. Bielat. “As an independent company, we will be focused on our own goals and objectives and pursue the numerous opportunities that lie ahead of us.”
“The Defense & Security business has an established reputation for cutting edge technology, industry-leading reliability and battle-tested functionality,” said Peter Manos, a Managing Partner at Arlington Capital. “We look forward to further consolidating the company’s preeminent position in robotics through organic investment and acquisitions.”
Arlington Capital Partners has $1.5 billion of committed capital and invests in buyouts and recapitalizations of companies valued from $50 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include government services and technology, aerospace & defense, healthcare, and business services & software. Arlington Capital is based in Chevy Chase, MD (www.arlingtoncap.com).
In addition to the Defense & Security business, iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) designs and sells consumer robots including Roomba, an autonomous home vacuum cleaner; Scooba, a scrubber and cleaner of hard floors; and other consumer tasked robots. The company has approximately $500 million in annual revenue and is headquartered in Bedford, MA (www.irobot.com).
© 2016 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 2-4-16
