Size is everything in defense electronics, and now Ceridian Corp, the information and payroll services company spin off from Control Data Corp, has agreed to sell off its Computing Devices International defense integration arm to General Dynamics Corp, the $4bn Falls Church, Virginia-based defense electronics and systems integration company, for $600m. Bloomington, Minnesota-based Computing Devices International has dominated the Canadian defense market, and has important niches in the US defense market. It will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, with 3,600 people. General Dynamics has only just finished digesting the defense electronics arm of Lucent Technologies Inc, for $284m (CI No 3,232), and earlier in the year acquired two defense systems arms from Lockheed Martin Corp for $450m. Ceridian, which has fueled its growth since independence in 1992 through a series of more than a dozen acquisitions (CI No 3,060), now says it wants to concentrate on its information services businesses. It will still have some 7,800 staff and annual sales of $1bn after the sale.
