Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) yesterday said it plans to acquire space technology company SpaceDev, Inc. [SPDV] for $38 million, allowing it to form an integrated space technologies business unit.
The proposed acquisition has been approved by SpaceDev’s board of directors and will be presented to its shareholders for a vote in December. The agreed purchase price, which after certain deductions is expected to be between 68 cents and 72 cents per share, represents a premium of between 42 and 50 percent over the average closing price of SpaceDev’s common stock over the past 30 days.
“The acquisition of SpaceDev, which has a tremendous space heritage with products that have flown on 250 spacecraft, represents a dynamic expansion of SNC’s space technology capabilities, proven system integration, communications, networking and intelligence capabilities in the space sector,” Fatih Ozmen, SNC’s CEO, said in a statement. “We believe that combining SpaceDev’s unique technological offerings, manufacturing capabilities and talented team with our existing space business and technology base will allow us to significantly increase our capacity and scalability while better serving our customers and making us a leader in space technology with access to a much wider customer and technology base.”
SNC said having SpaceDev and its existing MicroSat Systems subsidiary, combined with the company’s other space operations and capabilities, will allow it provide advanced satellite systems, propulsion systems, space vehicle systems and a range of subsystems and components to defense, civil government and corporate customers.
In the first quarter of 2008, SpaceDev said it had $10.3 million in sales and $57,270 in net earnings.