WASHINGTON — The $6.4 billion buyout of Maxar Technologies is complete and the company is now officially private. Its stock ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the company announced May 3.
Maxar, based in Westminster, Colorado, operates a fleet of high-resolution imaging satellites and manufacturers satellites in Palo Alto, California,
The company was acquired for $53 per share by the U.S. private equity firm Advent International and minority investor British Columbia Investment Management Corp. in a deal announced in December.
“With the closing of the transaction, Maxar will remain a U.S.-controlled, owned and operated company,” the company said. Maxar’s common stock will also be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Maxar started trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2017. It officially became a U.S. corporation in 2020 when the company spun off the Canadian subsidiary MDA. MDA in 2012 had purchased the Palo Alto-based satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral and in 2017 acquired the Westminster-based Earth-imaging firm DigitalGlobe. The combined companies were rebranded Maxar Technologies.
The company’s origin goes back to 1957. Western Development Laboratories, a division of Philco, was the first building block of what would eventually become Maxar. Western Development Laboratories launched its first communications satellite in 1960. The following year, Philco was purchased by Ford Motor Co. The combined Philco-Ford became Space Systems Loral in 1990.
