CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - British-based BAE Systems will maintain a presence in the Cedar Rapids area after it completes a deal to acquire Collins Aerospace’s military GPS business, officials said.
BAE announced Monday that United Technologies Corp. had agreed to sell the GPS business for $1.925 billion. The company also has an agreement to buy Raytheon Co.’s airborne tactical radios business for $275 million.
The two purchases are conditioned on regulatory approvals and United Technologies’ completion of its $135 billion merger with Raytheon Co., The Gazette reported. The U.S. Department of Justice asked Collins Aerospace in October to divest its military GPS business in order to satisfy antitrust concerns.
Plans are for GPS business’s 675 employees to stay in their Collins Aerospace facilities in Cedar Rapids and Coralville until the deal closes, BAE Systems spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told the newspaper.
Those workers would become employees of BAE Systems after the merger, she said, and then transition to a new facility in the Cedar Rapids area. Hayden said a specific location and time frame have not yet been determined.
BAE does not plan to lay off employees in integrating the Collins GPS business, she said.
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