Acquisition of Magellan
Complete - Company Now Called Thales Navigation.
SAN DIMAS, CA/SUNNYVALE, CA (December 2,
1997) In a move that will create a $125 million satellite access
products company, Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) has
signed a definitive agreement with privately held Ashtech of
Sunnyvale, CA, which will merge Global Positioning System (GPS)
technology developer/manufacturer Ashtech into Orbital Sciences
Corporation's San Dimas, CA-based Magellan Corporation subsidiary, a
leading GPS consumer products and satellite communications equipment
company.
David W. Thompson, Orbital Sciences Corporation's
chairman and chief executive officer, stated, "Operating under the
Magellan banner, the new organization will become the world's
foremost satellite access products technology business, offering
advanced GPS positioning, navigation and timing solutions as well as
the latest satellite telephony and data communications products for
rapidly expanding industrial, commercial and consumer markets
worldwide."
According to figures compiled by the United
States GPS Industry Council, global sales for GPS products are
projected to reach $8.5 billion by the year 2000. Specializing in
advanced satellite technologies, Magellan will benefit from several
trends driving this growth: safety and collision avoidance; the
integration of components into existing hand-held devices, such as
wireless telephones and personal digital assistants; and the need of
nearly all people to locate themselves in relationship to a
destination, whether on foot in the wilderness, in a kayak on the
ocean or in a car on a city street. Key markets identified by the
USGIC include car navigation, consumer/cellular, tracking, OEM,
survey and mapping, Geographic Information Systems, aviation, marine
and military. The new Magellan Corporation will be the only company
in the world to design and manufacture products for all of those
markets, Thompson noted.
The combined Magellan-Ashtech
Precision Products company will consist of four key operating units:
GPS and GPS+GLONASS solutions under the Ashtech Precision Products
brand for surveying, mapping, GIS and OEM products for timing,
positioning and navigation; Consumer GPS products from Magellan for
recreation, marine and aviation applications; Vehicle navigation
products and intelligent transportation technologies from Magellan's
Driver Information Systems group, and; Magellan's satellite-based
wireless communication products including portable satellite
telephones and hand-held, satellite messaging devices.
"Magellan's expertise in low-cost receiver design and manufacture,
its global marketing and distribution strength and the extremely
high brand awareness it enjoys around the world balance perfectly
with Ashtech's world-class GPS and GPS+GLONASS technology
development, its applications engineering expertise, and its
high-end manufacturing proficiency," according to Ashtech President
and CEO Charles M. Boesenberg, who will become President and CEO of
Magellan upon completion of the transaction later this month.
The Merger
The merger will be accomplished through
the exchange of stock and cash between the privately held Ashtech
Inc. and Orbital Sciences Corporation, a leading commercial space
products and services company. The Ashtech stockholders will receive
$25 million and 34% ownership in Magellan Corp., while Orbital
Sciences Corporation will own the remaining 66%.
Speaking on
behalf of the Ashtech board of directors, former Apollo 13 astronaut
Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr. described the merger as "a shining
example of how business can help us achieve the promise that space
technology offers for enhancing our lives. This merger is great for
GPS and all who use the technology."
Once the deal is final,
Magellan will employ about 500 people and combined 1997 revenues
should top $100 million. Magellan-Ashtech products will be sold in
more than 12,000 retail outlets in more than 100 countries through a
network of dealers, distributors and agents. The merged operation
will be headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. Other company locations will
include San Dimas, CA; Reston, VA; Plano, TX; Newport, RI; Kansas
City, MO; Rochester Hills, MI; international offices in the United
Kingdom, Germany, and Hong Kong; and a GPS+GLONASS technology center
in Moscow, Russia.
Background on Magellan and Ashtech
Magellan introduced the first hand-held GPS receiver in 1989,
and has sold more than one million GPS navigators since that time.
The company specializes in easy-to-use, affordable GPS and satellite
communications products for automotive, aviation, GIS, marine,
outdoor recreation and wireless communications markets worldwide.
Its newly released GPS Pioneer is the first hand-held GPS product to
retail for under $100.
The company is also a pre-eminent
designer and manufacturer of advanced vehicle navigation systems.
The innovative Magellan PathMaster route guidance and driver
information system is installed in more than 10,000 vehicles in the
United States, including some 8,000 Hertz rental cars.
Additionally, Magellan offers both geostationary and low-Earth-orbit
(LEO) satellite communications products. The Magellan World Phone
provides worldwide voice, fax and data communication capability via
Inmarsat Series-3 satellites, and the new GSC 100 is the world's
first hand-held satellite communications device, affording global
two-way text messaging via the ORBCOMM LEO satellite network and
navigation via GPS.
Ashtech's professional GPS products for
precision geopositioning applications are used in such disciplines
as agriculture, civil engineering and construction, environmental
remediation and protection, forestry, mining, natural resource
management, oil/gas/mineral exploration and extraction, survey,
transportation, and utilities management. The company also engineers
and manufactures board-level GPS receiver modules and GPS chip sets
(with Philips Semiconductor) for integration in a variety of
products and systems requiring precise position, velocity and timing
information. Ashtech is the premier integrator of GPS and GLONASS,
the Russian equivalent of GPS.
