On June 26, longtime Willkie client Loral Space & Communications Inc. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell wholly owned subsidiary Space Systems/Loral, Loral’s satellite manufacturing unit, to Canada-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. for $875 million and cash dividends and other payments from SS/L which are expected to be in excess of $135 million. Headquartered in New York City, Loral is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems for commercial and government applications, including fixed satellite services, direct-to-home television, broadband communications, wireless telephony, weather monitoring and air traffic management. MDA delivers a broad spectrum of information solutions, including complex operational systems, tailored information services and electronic information products for business and government organizations worldwide.

In previous years, Willkie advised Loral in the $2.96 billion acquisition of Telesat Canada and in the $1.1 billion sale of six North American telecommunications satellites to Intelsat, Ltd.

The current deal was handled by Corporate: partners Maurice Lefkort, A. Mark Getachew and William Hiller and associates Delano Ladd, Jared Nicholson, David Marley and John Knapke; Benefits: special counsel Peter Allman and associate Jordan Messinger; Regulatory: partners Theodore Whitehouse and David Tayar and special counsel David Park and Jonathan Konoff; Intellectual Property: special counsel Kim Walker and associate Meghan Hungate; Real Estate: Steven Rosenzweig and Owen Reidy; and Environmental: of counsel William Thomas and associate Johanna Hickman.