GEO Group Merges with CSC

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The GEO Group Inc., has announced its merger with Correctional Services Corporation of Sarasota, Fla. GEO paid $62 million for CSC in a deal that bought out the company’s shareholders at $6 a share, a 37 percent increase over the company's closing share value of $4.49. GEO will assume $124 million of CSC debt.

GEO offers design, construction, financial and management services at federal, state, immigration and special-purpose facilities.

At the conclusion of 2004, Geo managed 40 contracts at correctional and detention facilities in North America, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. The company manages approximately 36,000 inmate beds with a staff of 9,000. Its year-end revenue was $614.5 million, with a net income of $16.8 million.

CSC has contracts with 15 correctional facilities, with a design capacity of 7,500 beds. The company also operates 17 juvenile facilities with its subsidiary Youth Services International, but GEO plans to divest that part of the company's operation.

The GEO Group was originally founded in 1984 as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. The company inherited its current name in 2003.

GEO was the first private company to be awarded a contract at a major Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in 1997 when it began management of the Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, Calif, Before its merger with CSC, it operated 9,230 beds in Texas, 4,640 in California and 2,911 in Florida.

Upon closure of the merger, GEO controls 55 facilities with approximately 43,500 beds. Corrections Corporation of American remains the largest private prison operator with 69,000 beds at 63 facilities in 19 states and Washington, D.C.

Leave a Reply