spacetoday.net: Canada confirms decision to block ATK-MDA deal

Posted: Sat, May 10, 2008, 11:20 AM ET (1520 GMT)
The Canadian government announced Friday that it was upholding a decision made a month earlier blocking the purchase of the space unit of a Canadian company by an American corporation. Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice said in early April that he would block the acquisition of the space division of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) because the deal did provide a "net benefit" to the country. Prentice confirmed that decision early Friday at the end of a 30-day review period where ATK and MDA tried to convince the government to allow the deal to go through. The decision kills the $1.3-billion deal, which some in Canada had objected to because of concerns about control of the nation's leading space company, including its RADARSAT-2 satellite, by a foreign company. MDA had sought the sale to be able to better tap larger American markets. The Canadian government did award MDA a contract on Friday for continued support of the Canadian-built robotic arm system on the ISS; the four-year contract is worth $103 million.