American aerospace and defence mainstay Lockheed Martin has stopped its planned purchase of Aerojet Rocketdyne, as announced on 13 February. Lockheed proposed its purchase of its fellow industry participant in December 2020 but ran into issues concerning Aerojet’s missile propulsion systems.
It seems that the the US anti-trust authority, the Federal Trade Commission, was concerned about Aerojet’s status as the last independent, major producer of these items. The fear seemed to focus on the potential for anti-competition practises, because of reduced capacity for competing contractors to supply national security needs. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 4-0 to block the purchase in January.
The blocking of the transaction by a US Government left Lockheed with little option but to terminate the process.
