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With sparse few shopping days left in 2020, Lockheed Martin Corp. made a big purchase of the year, acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. in a deal worth $4.4 billion.
The move, unveiled on Dec. 20, provides the Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contracting giant (NYSE: LMT) an established player in the solid rocket propulsion market, which is critical for two business sectors that have commanded more attention in recent years: space and missiles.
The deal also marries two companies with pronounced Central Florida presences. Lockheed employs more than 9,000 people between its two Orlando campuses and its ballistics missiles headquarters and Orion spacecraft operations on the Space Coast. Meanwhile, El Segundo, California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) maintains operations in Orlando and Daytona Beach, as well as an integration and test facility it opened in 2017 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
