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Harris Acquisition Of Exelis Competed

Harris Corporation

Harris Corporation has completed its acquisition of Exelis.  Harris shareholders now own 85 percent of the combined company, and Exelis shareholders own 15 percent.

The deal has been valued at about $4.5 billion.

“The Exelis acquisition is transformative for our company and marks a major milestone in Harris’ 120-year history,” said William M. Brown, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris.” He says “…the acquisition creates significantly greater scale, bringing together two engineering-driven companies and workforces with similar cultures that value technology leadership.”

Both companies have a strong local presence in Rochester, with Harris employing about 2100 people in its RF Communications division  and Exelis  around 1300 in its geospatial systems division. 

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter issued a statement Friday saying that the combination of the two companies is good news. The Fairport Democrat says she looks forward to continuing to partner with Harris to work to create new jobs and new technologies.

Both Slaughter and Senator Charles Schumer said this week they are hoping the merger can bring up to 200 new jobs to the Rochester area.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.