GrowthPoint Technology Partners acted as the financial advisor to Open Kernel Labs, Inc. (“OK Labs”) in their sale to General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). The closing of the transaction was announced September 10, 2012.
OK Labs is a leading supplier of virtualization software that is used in securing communications, applications and content in mobile devices. Their software enables the secure separation of corporate data and applications from the user’s personal data that is stored on the same device. OK Labs’ software is deployed on more than 1.6 Billion government and commercial devices worldwide. It supports a bring-your-own-device, “BYOD”, environment, allowing smart phones and other portable computing devices to be used securely for both business and personal use. The software is also used for virtualization in automotive infotainment systems.
OK Labs will become part of General Dynamics Broadband, a subsidiary of General Dynamics C4 Systems. The acquisition will enhance General Dynamics’ ability to meet the growing needs for secure computing and communications on commercial handheld devices, which are increasingly being used by the military and government organizations. General Dynamics has a 40-year history of providing encryption technology to protect voice and data communications.
Mike Shepherd, Managing Director at GrowthPoint Technology Partners commented that “OK Labs represents a solution that fits with several major emerging technology themes. These themes include the continued phenomenal growth in mobile devices for both communications and now for computing, the move towards bring-your-own-device “BYOD” as a de-facto business tool, the continued evolution of virtualization in fixed and mobile devices to improve efficiency, speed and security, as well as the growing need to ensure that communications, applications and data remains secure for the enterprise and for the individual consumer.”
The price of the cash transaction was not disclosed.
The complete announcement by the new General Dynamics Broadband can be found at http://www.ok-labs.com/releases/release/general-dynamic-acquires-open-kernel-labs