Raytheon Is United Technologies’ $50 Billion Finishing Touch
For United Technologies, a merger with the defense giant will replenish revenue it’s losing in a breakup and mark the capstone of a dramatic makeover.
Incoming, a blockbuster deal in aerospace and defense.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
The news that aerospace and defense giants United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon Co. were looking to merge sent ripples through both industries and beyond. For good reason, too: Combining the two companies creates a powerhouse that will rank second only to Boeing Co. But for United Technologies’ CEO Greg Hayes, it also marks one final masterstroke of dealmaking to cap off the near total transformation of a company whose roots go back more than 150 years.
Hayes has been in his job since 2014, and for every day of that tenure there's been some sort of M&A question percolating around the company. First, he sold United Technologies’ Sikorsky helicopter unit to Lockheed Martin Corp. for $9 billion in 2015 and then last year acquired avionics-maker Rockwell Collins Inc. for $30 billion in what was then the largest aerospace deal. On Sunday, Hayes was again at the helm as United Technologies announced an all-stock deal for Raytheon, whose $52 billion market value makes it the company’s – and industry’s – largest target yet.