Owner of 2 large Hanford site contracts to merge into new publicly-traded firm

Amentum, the lead owner of two of the four largest Hanford site contracts, has reached an agreement to merge with a spin-off of Jacobs to form a new publicly traded government services company.

Jacobs and Jacobs’ shareholders will own up to 63% of the new combined company.

Amentum now is the lead owner of Washington River Protection Solutions, the tank farm contractor at the Hanford nuclear reservation, and Central Plateau Cleanup Co., which is responsible for much of the rest of environmental cleanup at the site at Eastern Washington once used for plutonium production for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

Together the two contractors employ about 4,000 workers.

In the agreement announced Tuesday, Jacobs will spin off its Critical Mission Solutions segment, plus its cyber and intelligence business, to combine with Amentum.

Jacobs announced its intent to separate its Critical Mission Solutions segment in May. The deal reached with Amentum should become final around mid 2024.

The new company will have $13 billion in revenue and more than 53,000 employees in 83 countries.

The board of directors will have an equal number of directors appointed by Jacobs and Amentum.

John Heller, chief executive of Amentum will be the chief executive of the new company. Steve Arnett, president of Jacobs’ Critical Mission Solutions, will be chief operating officer.

Jacobs may be best known at Hanford as the owner of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., the former contractor responsible for central Hanford environmental cleanup.

This story was originally published November 21, 2023 at 12:37 PM.