MacDonald acquires US-based Loral for $975 million

MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd (MDA) is moving aggressively into the commercial space market with its US$875-million acquisition of Space Systems/Loral Inc, Palo Alto CA. MDA has been seeking ways to break into the US commercial market since it divested its real estate assessment business last year. The Loral acquisition comes just weeks after MDA publicly expressed its frustration with the federal government and failure to fully commit funding for the Radarsat constellation of satellites, resulting in hundreds of layoffs. MDA also locked horns with the government in 2008 when it blocked the sale of its space assets to US-based Alliant Techsystems (R$, March 27/08). With the Loral acquisition, two-thirds of MDA's business will come from the commercial market, compared to one-third prior to the purchase. The combined revenue of the two firms will be $1.9 billion (2011), with $1.1 billion coming from Loral. Loral specializes in space technologies aimed at the television, digital audio, broadband Internet, mobile communications and voice telephony markets….