United Technologies Corp. [UTX] on Thursday said it expects to close its merger with Raytheon [RTN] on April 3, once the divestitures of its Carrier and Otis operating segments are completed.
The company said “when issued” trading of Carrier and Otis as separate publicly traded companies is set to begin on March 18 with the distribution date for both company’s shares anticipated to be April 3.
“Executing the separations of Carrier and Otis is also a major milestone to completing the merger of UTC’s aerospace businesses with Raytheon to create Raytheon Technologies the premier aerospace and defense systems and services provider,” Gregory Hayes, UTC’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Together, we will have a balanced and diversified portfolio with best-in-class technologies to address a full range of customer priorities and drive sustainable growth over the long-term. Our goal continues to be to have the merger ready to close concurrent with the portfolio separation.”
UTC and Raytheon last June announced their proposed merger to create a $74 billion aerospace and defense company focused on defense electronics, weapons systems, cyber security, military and commercial aircraft engines, air traffic management, military radios, avionics, and position, navigation and timing systems. Hayes will lead Raytheon Technologies as CEO, and current Raytheon Chief Thomas Kennedy will be executive chairman.
Once the deal closes,
BAE Systems’ $2.2 billion pending acquisitions of UTC’s military GPS business and Raytheon’s airborne tactical radios business will be in a position to close as well. The divestitures of the two business units was a condition of regulators in approving the UTC-Raytheon merger.