ITT to Acquire EDO in $1.7B Deal

ITT Corp. has agreed to pay $56 per share for EDO Corp., a defense technology and engineering company, representing an 8.7% premium over its Friday close of $51.51. Including ITT's assumption of $120M of EDO debt, the deal is valued at $1.7 billion. The deal is subject to EDO shareholder approval and is expected to close early in 2008. It will be neutral to ITT's earnings next year and accretive from 2009. "This transaction combines ITT's and EDO's technology prowess, customer relationships, and proven operational capabilities to scale mission-critical military programs and create new markets for our technologies," commented ITT defense unit president Steve Gaffney. Lazard and UBS advised ITT and Citigroup advised EDO. Shares of EDO were trading up to $53.65 as of 8:15 A.M. in thin pre-market activity; ITT was untraded.

Sources: Press release, Bloomberg, MarketWatch
Commentary: ITT Scores Surprise FAA Contract Win • ITT to Buy International Motion Control for $395M • Water: How to Quench Your Investor Thirst
Stocks/ETFs to watch: ITT, EDO. Competitors: LMT, RTN

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