MacDonald, Dettwiler to buy satellite imaging company DigitalGlobe in $4.7-billion deal
VANCOUVER — Canada’s leader in space technology, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX:MDA), will buy Colorado-based DigitalGlobe, Inc. in a friendly deal valued at about $4.7 billion (US$3.6 billion), including debt.
Vancouver-based MDA — which has supplied robotics for the International Space Station, the Canadarm for the U.S. Space Shuttle program and satellite-based Earth imaging — is offering cash and stock worth US$35 per share.
The combined company will have about 4,600 employees in the United States and will continue to employ more than 1,800 in Canada.
The MDA and DigitalGlobal boards have unanimously approved the deal and it’s expected to close in the second half of 2017, assuming the required approvals are reached, including sufficient shareholder support.