Lockheed Martin Acquires RFID Firm Savi
While the US Marines have been seeing concrete payoffs from RFID technology in their supply chain, Lockheed Martin Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire RFID equipment and solutions provider Savi Technology, Inc.
Think of RFID as wireless bar codes that don’t need to be swiped individually. Savi’s products include active RFID asset tags, data rich high performance tags, sensor tags that monitor security and environmental conditions, related fixed and mobile readers, as well as fully integrated site and enterprise software products that enable customers to track shipments worldwide.
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Terms of the transaction were not officially disclosed, but the San Jose Mercury’s SiliconValley.com reports that the price was around $400 million and that Savi largest shareholder, San Francisco buyout firm Vector Capital, has agreed to the deal. The Savi deal is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to antitrust review. Its 300 or so employees will then operate within a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, managed by Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions.
Savi has won a number of large US government contracts, and Lockheed’s CEO noted that “Savi’s talented team of employees has successfully developed a complete line of active RFID solutions. The acquisition of this innovative company is consistent with our strategy of making investments that significantly enhance the capabilities we can offer our customers.”
The San Jose Mercury story also notes that Savi competitor Alien Technology filed to raise $138 million in an April 2006 initial public offering; the sector has been busy of late, and is receiving growing recognition.
It has also been a busy couple of weeks for Vector, with the sale of Intel business software spinout LANDesk Group to Avocent for $416 million, and Corel going public last week. Vector has a lot of experience in spinning companies out of larger ones, and SiliconValley.com notes that Savi itself was spun out from Raytheon with Vector’s help in 1999.
