Rockwell Collins acquisition gets EU approval

CEDAR RAPIDS - The acquisition of Rockwell Collins has received approval by the European Union, but it will require Rockwell and its buyer to sell or get rid of some of their business.

The European Commission, a regulatory authority of the EU, announced Friday that it has approved United Technologies Corp.'s planned purchase of Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell. The commission's approval is contingent on UTC and Rockwell divesting parts of their business, however. Those divestitures would have to include:

l Rockwell's entire trimmable horizontal stabilizer actuator and pilot control businesses. That work is done at several locations in the United States and Mexico, the commission said.

l Rockwell's global ice protection business, based at one site in the United States.

l Two UTC research projects into oxygen systems.

It was not immediately clear how or whether those divestitures would affect Rockwell's Iowa employees. UTC and Rockwell declined to comment Friday.

'We can allow this merger to go ahead because in all the markets we raised concerns, UTC has committed to divest activities covering the entire overlap between the two companies,” EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a news release.

UTC's proposed purchase of Rockwell, the largest employer in Cedar Rapids, is valued at around $30 billion, including the assumption of $7 billion of Rockwell's debt. The two companies expect the deal to close as early as the middle of 2018. It has received approval from Rockwell shareholders, but still requires regulatory approval from a number of countries.

l Comments: (319) 398-8366; matthew.patane@thegazette.com