Raytheon's $9.5 billion merger with Hughes Aircraft received US anti-trust approval on 2 October, after the company agreed to sell two businesses which together account for about 0.5% of the combined companies' $13 billion defence-electronics revenues.
The US Department of Justice approved the deal after Raytheon allayed competition concerns by agreeing to sell part of Hughes' ground electro-optical (EO) sensor business and part of the focal-plane-array (FPA) seeker capability acquired when Raytheon bought Texas Instruments' defence operations. The company will hold on to Hughes' airborne and space-based EO capability and its own and Hughes' FPA businesses.
Anti-trust approval is contingent also on Raytheon/Hughes guaranteeing fixed prices for the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.
Source: Flight International