Irvine’s Meggitt Defense Systems Inc. has hit its sales goal of $100 million. Now Meggitt’s eyeing another local company as a buyout target.
“We’re looking at a potential acquisition here, but I can’t say which company,” said Charles Panasewicz, vice president of marketing for Meggitt Defense Systems.
The defense contractor, which recently consolidated its three Orange County facilities into one Irvine location, has benefited from strong military sales. The company has a large backlog of orders that will take a couple of years to work through, Panasewicz said.
It’s hard to predict when defense spending will slow down, but even with a decline in weapons spending for the war in Iraq there still will be a lot of equipment that needs to be replaced, he said.
Meggitt Defense Systems is a unit of London-based Meggitt PLC. The company has four other units outside California.
It specializes in ammunition handling for aircraft guns, defense capabilities for planes, target training systems for pilots and air conditioning for equipment.
The majority of its products go to the U.S. military and major contractors such as General Dynamics Corp., Boeing Co. and Raytheon Co.
Meggitt has been in the county since 1978, starting out with its Meggitt Western Design unit.
Closeness to other defense contractors and a strong recruiting base from local universities has kept Meggitt from considering relocating, ac-cording to Panasewicz.
Meggitt officially moved to its Irvine office, which previously housed the U.S. headquarters for Kia Motors America Inc., in June. It spent about $1 million to renovate the 155,000-square-foot facility. It counts about 265 workers there.
The move combined what previously was known as Meggitt Western Design in Irvine, Meggitt Defense Systems in Tustin and Meggitt Defense Systems in Fullerton. They now are all under the Meggitt Defense Systems name.
Consolidating the units not only lowered costs, but also created a more teamwork environment for its workers, Panasewicz said.
The company wants to hire more people, he said.
In June, Meggitt nabbed a $31 million contract from General Dynamics for upgrade work on the M1A2 Abrams Tank used by the military during combat.
