Maxar Technologies

Maxar Technologies was created in 2017 from the combination of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates and DigitalGlobe, with the resulting company renamed Maxar. The headquarters of the combined entity was then established in Westminster, Colorado. The company was dual-listed on the TSX and NYSE.In 2020, Maxar divested itself of the Canadian MDA portion, returning MDA to a separate operating company.In 2022, Maxar published several satellite images that showed a Russian military convoy during its invasion of Ukraine.

Timeline

1969: John MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler founded MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates.

1993: MDA sells its Electro-Optical Division based in Richmond Canada to a Swiss Private Equity firm which merges with Cymbolic Sciences based in California.

1995: MDA was acquired by Orbital Sciences for $67 million in stock

1996: acquired Iotek, a supplier of signal processing and sonar technology for military customers, for undisclosed sum

2000: entered joint venture with LandAmerica Financial Group to create LandMDA, a provider of property reports to lenders

2000/01: Orbital Sciences divested its MDA shares through an initial public offering; trades as TSX: MDA

2002: acquired Automated Mining Systems of Aurora, Ontario for $225,000

2002: acquired Dynacs for $3.1 million, with an additional $6.8 million contingent on performance

2003: acquired Millar & Bryce, a commercial provider of land information in Scotland, for $21.32 million, with $1.76 million contingent on performance.

2004: acquired Marshall & Swift / Boeckh for $337.8 million, with $104.9 million contingent on performance.

2005: acquired business of EMS Technologies Canada , a major supplier and subcontractor, for $8.9 million

2006: expanded into financial services with acquisition of Mindbox, a supplier of advanced decision systems for mortgage lending, for $12.6 million USD, with up to $10.75 million contingent on performance

2006: acquired xit2 Ltd. , information exchange solutions for lenders and home surveyors and other outsourced service providers

2006: acquired Lyttle & Co. , property and related search information

2007: acquired Alliance Spacesystems, Inc.

2008: MDA announced the sale of its Information Systems and Geospacial Services operations to Alliant Techsystems of Edina, Minnesota for $1.325 billion. However, amongst much media coverage, the sale was rejected by the federal government of Canada under the Investment Canada Act.

2008: Canadian government officially blocked the sale of MDA to ATK on May 8, 2008

2012: acquired Space Systems/Loral for US $875 million, making MDA one of the world's leading communication satellite companies.

2014: acquired the Advanced Systems business line of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems division.

2017: Completed its acquisition of DigitalGlobe, MDA now will be named Maxar Technologies, dual-listed on NYSE and TSX. MDA will then be a subsidiary of US-based Maxar by 2019.

2018: Announced acquisition of Neptec for $32 million.

2019: Completed U.S. domestication, whereby the parent company is now incorporated in the U.S. state of Delaware

2020: MDA is sold to a consortium of Canadian investors led by Northern Private Capital. This sale includes the Houston-based MDA US Systems, LLC.

2020: Completed its acquisition of Vricon, Inc for $140 million. Vricon is a global leader in satellite-derived 3D data for defense and intelligence markets

2022: Maxar to be taken private through an acquisition led by Advent International, in a cash deal worth $6.4 billion.