A $2 billion bid for the Pentagon’s primary rocket maker is running into complications, partly because Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. differ on whether to sell their equal stakes in the joint venture, according to people familiar with the details.
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.’s bid for United Launch Alliance LLC, the joint venture, faces a situation in which Lockheed Martin’s executive suite seems more eager to negotiate a sale as part of a broader, companywide portfolio restructuring, these people said. On the other hand, Boeing’s leadership is more inclined to hang on to its stake, the people said.
After a report of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s bid in The Wall Street Journal jolted the aerospace industry earlier this week, analysts and space experts tried to assess how the company could finance its bid for the larger firm and then pay for development of a new generation of rockets, dubbed Vulcan, largely designed to blast U.S. military, spy and civilian government satellites into orbit.
But on Thursday, much of the focus shifted to questions about why Boeing and Lockheed—considered rivals in a host of other markets but partners in an effort to win a coming deal for a new Air Force bomber—don’t see eye to eye when it comes to divesting themselves of the rocket-making venture.
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