ManTech sells off MSM Security Services

It was just last week that we reported on Fairfax, Virginia-based ManTech International’s success in winning a seven-year $89.9 million contract with the Department of Defense to support its interagency anti-terrorism missions, including research and development. At the time we mentioned the company’s recent spin-off of NetWitness and we have also in the past referred to the company’s decision to sell off its 40 percent interest in the Vosper-ManTech joint venture in the United Kingdom, for which ManTech received cash consideration totaling approximately $4.4 million. Now we can report on another Mantech corporate announcement: the decision to sell its wholly owned subsidiary MSM Security Services to MSM Holdings for $3 million in cash. Not uncoincidently, MSM Holdings is owned by George Pedersen, ManTech’s chairman and chief executive officer.

According to Pedersen, the decision came after the company’s prediction that the personal security business would change from a labor-intensive to a technology services industry failed to come true. “This change did not occur and the subsidiary is not aligned with ManTech’s core business and strategic direction,” said Perdersen, who last month offered to purchase the MSM subsidiary. “This subsidiary has sustained losses over the past three years and has been a persistent cause of concern for our shareholders,” he said. ManTech’s board of directors approved the purchase.

-read more in this company news release