The Criticized Raytheon-United Technologies Deal Looks Smart Now
The pandemic has slammed the commercial aerospace business, but defense spending remains robust.
Around this time last year, United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon Co. announced their plans to create an aerospace and defense behemoth with about $75 billion in sales. In short order, activist investor Bill Ackman declared he couldn’t “comprehend the strategic logic” of pairing the UTC airplane parts divisions with Raytheon weapons businesses that he deemed “of inferior quality.” Fellow UTC shareholder Dan Loeb followed with his own blast, calling the deal “ill-conceived” and “motivated by empire building.”
Today, shareholders have to be feeling pretty grateful they didn’t listen to Ackman or Loeb and instead approved the all-stock deal that created Raytheon Technologies Corp. earlier this year.