L-1 Identity Solutions [ID] recently announced that a United States oversight group has approved its acquisition by France’s Safran Group with the deal expected to close within five business days.
L-1 last September said that it had agreed to sell its identity solutions business to Safran for about $1.1 billion and its intelligence services business to Britain’s BAE Systems for about $300 million. The transaction with BAE closed in February.
L-1 initially expected the deal with Safran to be approved during the first quarter of 2011 but had to refile the proposed transaction numerous times to allow the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to complete its review.
Safran’s Morpho business unit, which includes identity solutions and screening security solutions, has a global presence with multi-biometric products, including biometric databases, and secure credentials. With L-1, Morpho will be expanding its business in the United States, in particular with the Defense Department and local law enforcement agencies, and will get its biometric, enrollment services and secure credentialing lines of business.
“The combination of L-1 and Safran Morpho with our complementary technologies, markets and promising synergies will result in the leading worldwide-wide provider of identity solutions today and into the future,” Robert LaPenta, chairman, president and CEO of L-1, said in a statement.
Safran plans to host a conference call about the deal on the day it closes.