Tougher Antitrust Scrutiny Doesn’t Mean All Deals Are Off
While regulators blocked Lockheed Martin’s $4.4 billion takeover of Aerojet Rocketdyne, the sheer volume of transactions awaiting approval will limit the number they can challenge.
Lockheed’s $4.4 billion takeover of Aerojet is at risk of collapse after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block it. But this is unlikely to be a landmark moment in antitrust enforcement that will dissuade future dealmakers.
Allowing one major defense contractor to purchase the only remaining independent maker of rocket boosters in the U.S. could thwart rivals’ ability to gain access to critical components and put their intellectual property at risk, according to the FTC. Lockheed could “jack up the price the U.S. government has to pay, while delivering lower quality and less innovation,” Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a Jan. 25 statement. “We cannot afford to allow further concentration in markets critical to our national security and defense.”