OREANDA-NEWS.  Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire UniversalPegasus International Holdings (UPI), a leading provider of engineering and project management services to the domestic and international energy markets. The transaction is subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino review and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in June. The value of the transaction is not being disclosed. UPI is a privately held company headquartered in Houston, Texas.

UPI has approximately 1,500 employees and has provided a broad range of engineering and project management services to the energy industry for over 50 years. They safely and reliably deliver project management, engineering, design, survey, inspection and construction management to customers in the domestic and international marketplaces.

"We are very excited about bringing UPI into the Huntington Ingalls family," said Mike Petters, HII's president and CEO. "The management team at UPI has tremendous experience in the energy infrastructure market as well as strong relationships with customers. We view this acquisition as an opportunity to create further value for our stakeholders while entering the growing oil and gas market with a reputable and established company."

After the acquisition closes, UPI will report to Chris Kastner, corporate vice president and general manager, corporate development.

UPI President and CEO Philip Luna added, "We look forward to becoming part of the HII team and the growth opportunities this will provide our customers and employees."

Huntington Ingalls Industries designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder at its Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions. Employing more than 38,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, HII also provides a wide variety of products and services to the commercial energy industry and other government customers, including the Department of Energy.