Acquiring Minds Want To Know: RUAG + Oerlikon Space AG OC Oerlikon and RUAG have announced that RUAG will acquire 100 percent of Oerlikon Space AG.

The undisclosed purchase price will be paid in cash. Closing of the transaction is expected mid 2009, following clearance from the relevant merger control authorities. RUAG significantly broadens and expands its position in the European and U.S. aerospace industry, following the acquisition of Saab Space and Austrian Aerospace in 2008. All 380 employees of Oerlikon Space based in Switzerland will transfer to RUAG after closing of the transaction. Located in Zurich, Switzerland, Oerlikon Space is one of the major suppliers for payload fairings in composite technology. Moreover, the company is a European provider of structures, mechanical, and electro-optical subsystems for applications in Space. Due to its relatively small size and limited synergies with the Oerlikon core competencies, Oerlikon Space was defined as a non core business in the course of last year. Dr. Lukas Braunschweiler, CEO RUAG Holding AG, said, "The combination of our businesses under one umbrella as a competitive aerospace supplier out of the three countries Switzerland, Sweden and Austria strengthens RUAG’s position and opens up new attractive opportunities for our customers and partners as well as our staff."