Friday, March 16, 2007

Raytheon vets use M&A experience

Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology - by Catherine Williams Mass High Tech

It was one year ago, over breakfast in the Westin Hotel coffee shop in Boston, that two veteran tech executives discussed plans to leave their posts at defense giant Raytheon Co. and open their own boutique consulting company.

Charles Stott, 60, and Robert Ventura, 52, are following through with those plans with the launch of Boston-based ValuePoint Solutions Inc. ValuePoint is focused on mergers and acquisitions services for both seller and buyer companies. They plan use their collective 30-plus years of technology, business and government experience to build their business.

"Success is as much about timing as it is about experience," said Stott.

Stott, who served as the VP of corporate development at Raytheon until December, most recently managed the M&A function for Raytheon, which reported $20 billion in net sales in 2006. Ventura, who served as director of M&A for Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems division, left in April 2006.

Stott said the consulting startup plans to book itself as a niche M&A advisory service that does double duty in business development and product development consulting.

Stott and Ventura are building a business model on the theory that an increase in M&A is expected to follow a much-anticipated plateau in defense spending in the near and long term.

Other business executives say they expect the same climate, including Denis Ritchie, managing director of Lynnfield-based boutique investment banking firm Dickson & Ritchie LLC.

The field of consultants is large, and working both sides of an M&A is precarious business model, said Ritchie.

Stott and Ventura said they plan to hire four to five people within the coming year. To date, the firm is working with two tech companies, but has yet to ink its first deal.

Article © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.