Advanced Television

MDA rockets on SS/L buy

June 28, 2012

By Chris Forrester

Yesterday’s news that Canada-based MacDonald, Dettwiler & Assoc (MDA) is buying satellite builder Space Systems/Loral for almost $1 billion, sent MDA’s share price on the Toronto exchange rocketing by 28 per cent.

“This is a game changer for MDA, one that meets many of our key strategic objectives in a single move,” MDA president and chief executive Daniel Friedmann told a conference call with analysts Wednesday. Friedmann said the addition of Space Systems/Loral Inc. will give Vancouver-based MDA “critical mass” in the US market while enhancing global opportunities and also greatly diversifying its revenue base.

MacDonald, Dettwiler is best known as the maker of the robotic arms used on the International Space Station and the now-retired US space shuttles. It has also been involved in a variety of businesses that use satellites to collect information from space, and recently has proposed building a ‘space tug’ rescue-type satellite.

Categories: Articles, Business, DTH/Satellite