DynCorp plans IPO

DynCorp International, the U.S. Department of State’s main contractor in the spraying of South America’s coca fields, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month to sell $450 million worth of stock in an initial public offering.

According to the SEC filing, Dyncorp intends to use the proceeds from the offering to pay some debt and to reward unnamed insiders with a special $100 million dividend. Listed among the directors of the company is retired U.S. Army general Barry McCaffrey who was SOUTHCOM’s commander from 1994 to 1996 and President Clinton’s anti-drug czar from 1996 to 2001.

Currently, DynCorp is owned by Veritas Capital, a private equity firm that specializes in the acquisition of defense companies.

Until February DynCorp had been owned by Computer Sciences Corporation, which acquired the company in 2003. CSC sold DynCorp to Veritas for $850 million.

The underwriters behind the public issuance, the companies that reap fees from placing the stock in the market, are Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, CIBC World Markets, Jefferies Quarterdeck, UBS Securities, and Wachovia Capital Markets.

Earlier this year DynCorp was granted a new contract by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. According to a company press release, this was “the third consecutive eradication and interdiction contract State has awarded to DynCorp International and its corporate predecessors, which have provided eradication services to the Department of State since 1991.”

The complete SEC filing is available at:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1338916/000 119312505192867/0001193125-05-192867-index.htm