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NEWS RELEASE Magellan and Ashtech to become a new $125 million satellite navigation, positioning and communications products company
SAN DIMAS, CA/SUNNYVALE, CA (December 2, 1997) -- In a move that will
create a $125 million satellite access products company, Orbital Sciences
Corporation (NASDAQ: ORBI) has signed a definitive agreement with privately
held Ashtech Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA, which will merge Global Positioning
System (GPS) technology developer/manufacturer Ashtech into Orbital's San
Dimas, CA-based Magellan Corporation subsidiary, a leading GPS consumer
products and satellite communications equipment company.
David W. Thompson, Orbital's chairman and chief executive officer, stated,
"Operating under the Magellan banner, the new organization will become the
world's foremost satellite access products technology business, offering
advanced GPS positioning, navigation and timing solutions as well as the
latest satellite telephony and data communications products for rapidly
expanding industrial, commercial and consumer markets worldwide."
According to figures compiled by the United States GPS Industry Council,
global sales for GPS products are projected to reach $8.5 billion by the
year 2000. Specializing in advanced satellite technologies, Magellan will
benefit from several trends driving this growth: safety and collision
avoidance; the integration of components into existing hand-held devices,
such as wireless telephones and personal digital assistants; and the need of
nearly all people to locate themselves in relationship to a destination,
whether on foot in the wilderness, in a kayak on the ocean or in a car on a
city street. Key markets identified by the USGIC include car navigation,
consumer/cellular, tracking, OEM, survey and mapping, Geographic Information
Systems, aviation, marine and military. The new Magellan Corporation will be
the only company in the world to design and manufacture products for all of
those markets, Thompson noted.
"Magellan's expertise in low-cost receiver design and manufacture, its
global marketing and distribution strength and the extremely high brand
awareness it enjoys around the world balance perfectly with Ashtech's
world-class GPS and GPS+GLONASS technology development, its applications
engineering expertise, and its high-end manufacturing proficiency,"
according to Ashtech President and CEO Charles M. Boesenberg, who will
become President and CEO of Magellan upon completion of the transaction
later this month.
The Merger
Speaking on behalf of the Ashtech board of directors, former Apollo 13
astronaut Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr. described the merger as "a shining
example of how business can help us achieve the promise that space
technology offers for enhancing our lives. This merger is great for GPS and
all who use the technology."
Once the deal is final, Magellan will employ about 500 people and combined
1997 revenues should top $100 million. Magellan-Ashtech products will be
sold in more than 12,000 retail outlets in more than 100 countries through a
network of dealers, distributors and agents. The merged operation will be
headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. Other company locations will include San
Dimas, CA; Reston, VA; Plano, TX; Newport, RI; Kansas City, MO; Rochester
Hills, MI; international offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Hong
Kong; and a GPS/GLONASS technology center in Moscow, Russia.
Background on Magellan and Ashtech
The company is also a pre-eminent designer and manufacturer of advanced
vehicle navigation systems. The innovative Magellan PathMasterTM route
guidance and driver information system is installed in more than 10,000
vehicles in the United States, including some 8,000 Hertz rental cars.
Additionally, Magellan offers both geostationary and low-Earth-orbit (LEO)
satellite communications products. The Magellan World Phone provides
worldwide voice, fax and data communication capability via Inmarsat Series-3
satellites, and the new GSC 100 is the world's first hand-held satellite
communications device, affording global two-way text messaging via the
ORBCOMM LEO satellite network and navigation via GPS.
Ashtech's professional GPS products for precision geopositioning
applications are used in such disciplines as agriculture, civil engineering
and construction, environmental remediation and protection, forestry,
mining, natural resource management, oil/gas/mineral exploration and
extraction, survey, transportation, and utilities management. The company
also engineers and manufactures board-level GPS receiver modules and GPS
chip sets (with Philips Semiconductor) for integration in a variety of
products and systems requiring precise position, velocity and timing
information. Ashtech is the premier integrator of GPS and GLONASS, the
Russian equivalent of GPS.
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