Leonardo DRS, Inc. (“Leonardo DRS”, or the “Company”), a leading mid-tier defense technology provider, today announced the successful completion of the all-stock merger between Leonardo DRS and RADA Electronic Industries Ltd. (“RADA”) to become a combined public company (the “Combined Company”). As previously disclosed, RADA shareholders will retain 19.5% ownership in the Combined Company with Leonardo DRS’s parent company, Leonardo S.p.A., (MIL: LDO), owning the remaining 80.5%. Leonardo DRS’s stock will be listed on NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (“TASE”) under the symbol “DRS” with RADA’s existing stock symbol converting to the Leonardo DRS symbol effective at the opening of NASDAQ trading on November 29, 2022 and TASE trading on November 30, 2022.
The Combined Company will be aligned to fast growing segments of the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”) budget with market leading positions in advanced sensing, force protection, network computing, and electric power & propulsion. Further, the Combined Company’s mid-tier position provides meaningful scale coupled with agility to respond to customer needs with affordable and differentiated solutions. Pro forma revenue and Adjusted EBITDA in 2021 for the Combined Company was approximately $2.7 billion and $305 million, respectively. In celebration of the transaction and the first trading under the DRS ticker symbol, the Leonardo DRS leadership and broader management team, led by CEO William J. Lynn III, will ring the Nasdaq closing bell on November 29, 2022 at 4:00 pm. The bell ringing ceremony can be seen live on U.S. financial network television and on Nasdaq.com.
“We are pleased to have received strong shareholder support for this transaction. It has always been our goal to maximize shareholder value, and the RADA team and Board believe this merger represents an excellent outcome for the Company. The RADA team looks forward to continuing to penetrate the tactical radar market within the strong Leonardo DRS platform,” said Dov Sella, CEO of RADA.
“We look forward to bringing Leonardo DRS’s mid-tier strength to the public markets with the addition of RADA’s leading tactical radar capabilities. Leonardo DRS’s broad exposure to fast growing segments in the defense market and market leading positions in advanced sensing, force protection, network computing and electric power & propulsion make us a unique defense contractor with a compelling growth outlook, margin expansion capabilities and a largely unlevered balance sheet,” said William J. Lynn III, Chairman & CEO of Leonardo DRS.
Leonardo DRS, formerly DRS Technologies, Inc., is a US-based defense contractor. Previously traded on the NYSE, the company was purchased by the Italian firm Finmeccanica (now Leonardo S.p.A.) in October 2008. Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems, Inc (DRS) was founded in 1968 by Leonard Newman and David Gross, two engineers working for Loral Corporation. The two were working on signal processing techniques for anti-submarine warfare. When Loral chose to pursue other technology, Newman and Gross founded DRS to continue their research, which ultimately led to development of the AN/SQR-17 passive submarine detection system, a product still used today. DRS was acquired by the Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica S.p.A. (now Leonardo S.p.A.) in 2008. In 2012, former United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, William J. Lynn III was appointed CEO of Finmeccanica North America DRS, replacing Mark Newman, who held the position since 1994.
