It's fair to say that most people who build a business over many years then sell it for eight figures or so would be content to smell the roses for awhile. Not Bill O'Gara. He built O'Gara, Hess & Eisenhart into an internationally known vehicle armoring firm and sold it in 2001 for more than $50 million. But by 2003, O'Gara was back in the security products business, and by 2007, was back in the armoring business, buying Security Support Solutions, a company that sells and markets armored vehicles and other security-related products and services.
The O'Gara Group now has three more acquisitions pending, which will increase its product offerings and geographic reach. O'Gara plans to buy an Italian company called Isoclima, which designs and makes transparent armor and impact-resistant glass for the automotive, rail, marine, aviation and other markets. It also plans to buy TPS Armoring, based in Monterrey, Mexico, which makes vehicle armoring systems, and OmniTech, based in Freeport, Penn., a designer and manufacturer of night vision equipment and other optoelectronic systems for the government and military.
The total value of the acquisitions is more than $230 million, and O'Gara plans to pay for them by selling stock on the open market. The O’Gara Group has filed documents for a $173 million initial public stock offering. It expects to trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol OGAR.
Writer: David Holthaus
Source: SEC filings
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