Armor Holdings Completes Acquisition of Stewart & Stevenson

Defense Daily, May 26, 2006

Stewart & Stevenson shareholders yesterday finally approved the sale of the company to Armor Holdings [AH], marking the last hurdle in closing the deal.

Closure of the voting process had been delayed for two weeks after shareholders held out for better terms, which they got.

Last week Armor Holdings raised its offering price by $1.50 per share to $36.50, apparently tipping the scales in their favor (Defense Daily, May 16). Oshkosh Truck Corp. [OSK], a rival to Stewart & Stevenson in the military truck market, originally outbid Armor Holdings but Stewart & Stevenson's board of directors rejected the offer citing in part, potential anti-trust concerns.

For Armor Holdings, the deal gives them a new market, military trucks.

"As a prime contractor for the U.S. military's tactical wheeled vehicle fleet, Stewart & Stevenson operations are highly complementary to Armor Holdings' existing armoring capabilities," Robert Schiller, president of Armor Holdings, said in a statement. "This combination dramatically enhances our ability to offer DoD an integrated tactical vehicle resource and positions us extremely well to supply products for a wide range of high priority projects in the coming years."

Schiller said the deal will also give Armor Holding's better visibility into future year sales.

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

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