GEC Completes Tracor Acquisition

Electronic News, July 20, 1998

London -- General Electric Co. PLC (GEC) completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of Tracor, Inc., merging the Austin, Texas-based company into the North American operations of GEC-Marconi, a GEC subsidiary. The combined operations will be known as Marconi North America, Inc., with headquarters in Wayne, N.J.

GEC agreed to pay $40 a share for all outstanding shares of Tracor's common stock (EN, April 27). A cash tender offer conducted by a U.S. subsidiary garnered more than 90 percent of those shares; untendered shares have been converted into the right to receive $40 a share, subject to rights of appraisal.

"The addition of Tracor to the GEC-Marconi family of companies in North America strongly reinforces our position to become the number one transnational aerospace/defense electronics and information systems company in the world," said Mark Ronald, president and CEO of Marconi North America, Inc. "GEC-Marconi is the sixth-largest defense contractor in the world and becomes the ninth-largest U.S. Department of Defense contractor.

"To strengthen our worldwide position for profitable growth, we are regrouping our product and service lines in North America to foster a collaborative, effective and efficient environment. Our new corporate structure is composed of four major sectors in the United States and the Canadian Marconi Co., led by a strong management team of both Tracor and Marconi executives."

Mr. Ronald noted GEC-Marconi and Marconi North America take their names from Nobel Prize-winning physicist Guglielmo Marconi, "the father of wireless communications."

Tracor dates back to 1955 and operated independently until 1987, when it was acquired by Westmark Holdings in a highly leveraged $1.2 billion deal. The company was forced to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors in 1989, reeling under the weight of debt taken on in the Westmark acquisition. It emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization status in 1991 and went public again in 1992.

Marconi North America has combined annual sales of approximately $2.3 billion and a combined backlog of more than $3.4 billion. Following the acquisition, Marconi now employs more than 17,000 people throughout North America.