Kathy Warden: Northrop to Form Innovation Systems Unit After Orbital ATK Purchase

Kathy Warden, president and chief operating officer at Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), has said the company will establish a new business sector once the Falls Church, Virginia-based defense contractor completes the $9.2 billion purchase of Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), Inside Defense reported Thursday.

Warden told analysts Thursday that Blake Larson, COO of Orbital ATK, will lead the future “Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems” business.

Larson has more than three decades of management experience across the areas of systems engineering, software design, system test equipment and electrical design during his career at Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and ATK, which merged its aerospace and defense groups with Orbital Sciences in 2015 to form Orbital ATK.

Warden, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, noted that she expects the transaction to conclude in the first half of 2018 and that the Federal Trade Commission continues to evaluate the deal in consultation with the Defense Department.

Northrop will pay $7.8 billion in cash and assume $1.4 billion in net debt from Orbital ATK in a transaction originally announced in September 2017.

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