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M D A history
M D A company history timeline
John MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler incorporated MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. in Vancouver, British Columbia as private company in 1969.
MDA (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) was founded in 1969 by John S. MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler in the basement of MacDonald's Vancouver home.
MDA first went public in 1993 on the Vancouver exchange.
In 1995 it was acquired by the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation for US$67 million in stock.
MDA bought the space robotics division of Spar Aerospace - manufacturer of the Canadarm - in March 1999, renaming it MD Robotics.
OSC sold its entire stake in 2001.
In 2008 MDA tried unsuccessfully to sell itself to Alliant Techsystems but the government intervened and nixed the deal.
In November of 2010 MDA sold its property information business for $849.6 million.
The real estate information business was sold in early 2011.
MDA bought Space Systems/Loral from Loral Space & Communications in 2012., leading to OTPP reducing its stake to less than 10%.
In 2016 MDA’s longtime CEO Dan Friedmann resigned, and leadership would pass to American Howard L. Lance, the former CEO of Harris Corp.
By late February 2017 Lance and the MDA board had made the significant decision to acquire DigitalGlobe for $3.1 billion (US$2.4 billion) in shares and cash.
MDA bought DigitalGlobe in 2017, and rebranded as Maxar Technologies.; the company moved its headquarters to Colorado, United States.
In August of 2018 Maxar came under attack from Spruce Point Capital, a specialist in short selling.
On December 30, 2019, Maxar announced that MDA had been sold to a consortium led by Toronto Based Northern Private Capital.
On 8 April 2020, Toronto-based investment firm Northern Private Capital bought the MDA assets from Maxar for C$1 billion (US$765 million). and named the new company MDA; the company is headquartered in Canada.
The contract was further confirmed on December 16, 2020, when NASA and the CSA announced the finalised agreement to collaborate on the Gateway, which included the Canadarm3, the installation of two scientific instruments and commitment to provide two crew positions for Canadian astronauts.
On 9 December 2020, The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) awarded MDA a contract to develop and construct the Canadarm3 as part of Canada's contribution to the NASA-led Lunar Gateway Program.
On April 7 2021, MDA became a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange trading under the symbol MDA.
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