Huntington Ingalls Industries agreed to acquire UniversalPegasus International Holdings of Houston for an unreported price, marking its second purchase of an energy-focused engineering firm this year. In January, HHI acquired Broomfield, Colo.-based S.M. Stoller Corp., which provides environmental, nuclear, and technical consulting and engineering services to the U.S. Department of Energy, among others.
"We are very excited about bringing UPI into the Huntington Ingalls family," stated HHI president and CEO Mike Petters, HII's president and CEO. "The management team at UPI has tremendous experience in the energy infrastructure market as well as strong relationships with customers. We view this acquisition as an opportunity to create further value for our stakeholders while entering the growing oil and gas market with a reputable and established company."
Huntington Ingalls, known as a defense contractor, the parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding, said it expects to close on the deal in June. The ships it builds include nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as other vessels.
The transaction must clear a U.S. Treasury Dept. anti-trust review, among other customary closing conditions.
UniversalPegasus is privately owned and has about 1,500 employees. It has performed a range of engineering and project management services to the energy industry for over 50 years, including project management, engineering, design, survey, inspection and construction management to domestic and international customers.
UPI president and CEO Philip Luna said, "We look forward to becoming part of the HII team and the growth opportunities this will provide our customers and employees."