United Technologies, Raytheon to close Friday on $135 billion merger

United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon Co. are set to merge Friday morning, after the $135 billion deal received all necessary regulatory approvals across the globe.

The new Raytheon Technologies Corp. will be formed before the opening of trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, and it will begin trading that day under the ticker symbol RTX, the companies announced Monday.

UTC is the parent company of Collins Aerospace, which employs more than 10,000 people in Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Decorah, Bellevue and Manchester.

UTC's Otis elevator and Carrier air-conditioner businesses will be spun off Friday and begin trading as independent companies, under the respective ticker symbols OTIS and CARR.

The formation of Raytheon Technologies will mark the culmination of nearly two years of work on the aerospace and defense merger, which had been worked on since early summer 2018 and was announced in June 2019.

The new corporation headquarters will be in the Boston area.

'I am exceptionally proud to lead this new organization and the talented people who serve our nation, its allies and our commercial aerospace customers so well,” said Greg Hayes, chairman and CEO of UTC, in a news release.

'We are more than just two businesses coming together - Raytheon Technologies will be uniquely positioned to deliver advanced and innovative solutions to our customers while delivering significant value to shareowners,” said Tom Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Raytheon.

Hayes will serve as CEO of the combined company. Kennedy will remain executive chairman for two years after the merger closes, at which time Hayes then will take over as chairman.

The merger required approvals under foreign competition laws in the European Union, Australia, Canada, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, plus foreign investment laws in Australia, France and Germany.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to the deal, conditioned on three divestitures across the two companies.

One of the spinoffs, Collins Aerospace's military GPS business, will be acquired by United Kingdom-based BAE Systems for $1.925 billion.

The last full day of trading for shares of Raytheon is expected to be Thursday, with each share converted into the right to receive 2.3348 Raytheon Technologies shares.

For UTC shareowners, every share in the company's stock held as of 5 p.m. March 19 will net half a share of Otis and one share of Carrier.

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