Aerojet Rocketdyne Shares Rally After Lockheed Takeover Deal

By Robb M. Stewart

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. shares are poised to rally when the market opens Monday after Lockheed Martin Corp. announced plans to buy the space and missile-defense specialist in a deal valued at about $5 billion.

In premarket trading, Aerojet's shares were 28% higher after ending last week at $42.04, down 7.9% year-to-date.

Lockheed Martin has offered $56 a share for Aerojet, the company said Sunday. The price would fall to $51 at closing following the payment of a $5 cash dividend scheduled for March, reducing the cash cost of the deal to $4.4 billion. That marks a 42% premium to the weighted-average price over the last 90 days.

California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne has about 5,000 employees and last year recorded revenue of almost $2 billion. The deal has been unanimously approved by each company's board and is expected to close in the second half of next year, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 21, 2020 06:32 ET (11:32 GMT)

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