DynCorp International Inc has accepted a $1.5 billion takeover bid, including the assumption of debt, from private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP , the defense contractor said on Monday, sending its shares up 48 percent.

Under the deal approved by DynCorp's board, shareholders will receive $17.55 in cash for each share of international common stock, a premium of about 49 percent from Friday's closing price of $11.75.

DynCorp shares, which had fallen 18 percent since the start of the year, were up 48 percent at $17.39 in early trading.

Cerberus said it would fund the deal with equity financing, as well as debt financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch , Citigroup Global Markets Inc , Barclays Bank PLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc .

DynCorp said it expected the transaction to close in the second half of 2010, although it might solicit alternative proposals for a 28-day period. The deal carries a termination fee of $30 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office last month upheld a protest by DynCorp against the U.S. Army's plan to award task orders for training Afghan police and other officials under earlier contracts.

The GAO, the congressional agency responsible for reviewing federal bid protests, said it had agreed with DynCorp that the training, logistics and other work in question exceeded the scope of the previous Army contracts, which focused on counter-narcoterrorism efforts.

(Reporting by Steve Eder, Elinor Comlay and Kyle Peterson, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)