Maxar(MAXR, $16.47) to sell space robotics business for $765.2 million

Maxar Technologies revealed plans to sell its space robotics subsidiary for $765.2 million.

Around two years ago, Canadian space tech firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, or MDA, bought satellite imaging company DigitalGlobe , resulting in a combined entity now known as Maxar Technologies.

And now, Maxar intends to sell its space robotics division, MDA, to a financial consortium led by Toronto-based investment firm Northern Private Capital. The deal amount ($765 million) is almost 80% of Maxar's current market capitalization. Northern Private Capital intends to allow MDA to operate as a "stand-alone" company in its portfolio. 

Through the sale of its space robotics unit, along with a deal to offload real estate in Palo Alto, Calif., Maxar expects to reduce the company's debt by $1 billion. The sale would also help Maxar reduce its leverage ratio and progress on plans to prioritize investments in space infrastructure and earth intelligence.

Maxar said it will "retain leading capabilities in geospatial data and analytics, satellites, space robotics, and space infrastructure," which is essentially its "Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure" businesses.

The deal, however, awaits a number of regulatory approvals.

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Sergey Savastiouk|Expert

Sergey Savastiouk, Ph.D. has a degree in Applied Mathematics from Moscow University and has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, investor, manager, and mathematician. His professional expertise is in applied mathematics, mathematical modeling, system and pattern analysis, and software and hardware system integration. He has served as the CEO of several hi-tech start-up companies and nonprofit organizations, which has given him proven capabilities in business strategy for high-tech start-up companies, market assessment, company formation, team building, product development, marketing, and sales. He has published numerous articles in journals and magazines on related fields. As a retail investor, he spent 15 years developing his proprietary trading and quantitative algorithms (now Tickeron’s A.I.), which brought him significant returns in trading the stock market. His current work and goal in founding Tickeron is to bring professional, sophisticated stock market analysis capabilities to retail investors via an easy-to-use interface.