Loral Corp is emerging as the most determined of the new generation of defence electronics specialists tailored for an era of much attenuated defence budgets in the developed economies, and it is Loral that has won the bidding for Unisys Corp’s defence business with a cash offer of $862m, a price that falls to about $798m after contractual adjustments are taken into account, according to Loral. The acquisition will be anti-dilutive to Loral, immediately contributing to its earnings, the company says. It will finance the deal through its existing credit facilities. Unisys Defense Systems comprises four business units: Systems Development, building defence electronic systems, undersea systems, weather systems, radar systems, and transportation and physical security systems; Electronic Systems, making defence information systems, air traffic control systems, airborne systems, postal systems and environmental systems; Communication Systems, doing intelligence collection systems and satellite communications; and the Canadian Operations, a producer of electronic systems for naval and airborne programmes. The operations employ some 8,500 people and accounted for $1,400m of the company’s total revenues of $7,400m for 1994. It sale does not include the Federal Systems and Health Information Management business units. Proceeds from the sale will be used for investments in core businesses, working capital and possibly for repurchase of its securities, Unisys said.
