Roanoke-based Luna Innovations Inc. announced Monday the sale of a business unit that provides computing and technical services for national defense, saying it wanted to focus on core company strengths and buffer itself from the potential fallout of government budget cuts.

Luna is selling its “secure computing and communications group” to MacAulay-Brown Inc. The price under an asset-purchase agreement was $6.1 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Luna said its niche is fiber-optic sensing, while its computing group is a better fit for the business and customer base at MacAulay-Brown, the Dayton, Ohio-based defense contractor whose specialty is intelligence and cybersecurity.

From Luna’s perspective, the deal brings a reward for the company’s work in secure computing technology — which involves electronic components and methods related to military and national security operations — “while mitigating exposure to reductions in government spending,” My Chung, Luna’s CEO, said in a prepared release.

The deal affects 23 Luna employees, or about 14 percent of Luna’s workforce of 160, said Dale Messick, Luna’s chief financial officer. They have shifted to MacAulay-Brown, but are poised to remain at Luna’s offices in Roanoke because MacAulay-Brown is subleasing the secure computing and communication group space until as late as the end of the year, Messick said.

Weather Journal

8 hours ago