Rep. Blum: ‘We’ll be watching’ Rockwell Collins acquisition

U.S. Rep. Rod Blum will 'always be very worried about” the acquisition of Rockwell Collins, he told The Gazette Monday.

'We're now part of a bigger company. We lose some control there. I was worried when I heard it, I'm still worried and I'll probably be worried about it for a long time,” said Blum, a Republican whose Congressional district includes Cedar Rapids, in a phone interview.

Blum, along with other members of Iowa's Congressional District, met with the leaders of Rockwell Collins and proposed acquirer United Technologies last week to discuss the $30 billion purchase, including debt, of Cedar Rapids' largest employer.

'I told them, in a nonthreatening way, ‘Well, we'll be watching,'” Blum said.

Earlier this month, Connecticut-based United Technologies said it plans to acquire Rockwell in a major aerospace industry deal. Rockwell would join UTC's current aerospace division to form Collins Aerospace Systems.

The acquisition would close in the second half of 2018, but requires regulatory and shareholder approval.

Despite his worry, Blum said he tends 'to look on the positive side of this.” For example, it's good that United Technologies and Rockwell have little product overlap and that Rockwell Collins CEO Kelly Ortberg will lead the new business division, he said.

While corporate-level staff may see job cuts, Blum said he has hope the deal could result in job gains for Iowa and Cedar Rapids.

Company leaders did not say where they plan to base Collins Aerospace, Blum said.

'They're going to do some evaluations there. That isn't a production facility, that's not the factory facility, that's not engineering staff, that's just corporate. The headquarters could be in Timbuktu and employment in Iowa could still increase over time,” Blum said.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack and Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst also met with company leadership, their offices confirmed Monday. U.S. Sen Chuck Grassley, also a Republican, said earlier he had met with company leaders.

Loebsack 'remains hopeful that the new organization will retain the presence it currently has in Eastern Iowa,” spokesman Joe Hand said in an email.

Ernst was 'pleased they recognized the value Rockwell employees in Iowa bring, and she urged them to continue to employ as many Iowans as possible,” spokeswoman Brook Hougesen said in an email.

'It's her hope that the combination of these companies creates a premier aerospace system supplier which grows and expands, and that moving forward, it will continue providing excellent products at a reasonable cost to our military and the private sector,” Hougesen said.

Rockwell Collins has 30,000 employees total worldwide, including 8,000 in Cedar Rapids and 1,350 in Coralville, Decorah, Bellevue and Manchester. UTC's aerospace division is based in Charlotte, N.C., and has 40,000 employees.

Grassley met with UTC CEO Greg Hayes and Ortberg separately last week. He told The Gazette Friday he is skeptical of acquisitions, given his experience of Whirlpool's 2006 purchase of Maytag. That deal led to the company eventually leaving Newton completely.

Hayes and Ortberg 'went through what they were trying to accomplish. Their main job, I felt, was to relieve us of any fears of any major loss of jobs,” Grassley said Friday.

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