Maxar finishes $729M sale of Canadian subsidiary

WESTMINSTER — Satellite maker Maxar Technologies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: MAXR) closed its spin-off of Canadian subsidiary MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to a group of private equity firms for $729 million.

The Westminster-based company said it would sell the Canadian assets primarily to Northern Private Capital Ltd. and its private equity partners in late December for CA$1 billion. The value of the deal at that time was US$765 million, but $36 million in final proceeds are expected to be lost due to various adjustments and shifts in currency value.

MDA was previously an independent company based in Vancouver before it was acquired in a $2.4 billion deal by what was then DigitalGlobe Inc. to form Maxar in 2017.

MDA’s spin-off, along with the sale and lease-back of a Palo Alto property for $291 million, will be used to pay down Maxar’s heavy debt load. The company had $2.94 billion in long-term obligations on its books at the end of 2019, according to its latest annual report.

“The closing of the MDA transaction concludes the near-term reshaping of our balance sheet and business portfolio,” said CEO Dan Jablonsky in a prepared statement.

on Facebook on LinkedIn