On April 8, Northern Private Capital (NPC), a Toronto-based private investment firm officially purchased MDA from Maxar Technologies for CAD$1 billion. With this transaction, MDA is once again under Canadian control as a private, independent company.
In 1969, John MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler founded MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA). Since that time, the company has grown to become Canada’s largest space technology developer and manufacturer, with over 1,900 employees across the country. Over the decades, MDA has delivered world-leading, iconic technologies such as the Canadarm family of space robotics for the U.S. Space Shuttle program and the International Space Station and three generations of RADARSAT Earth observation satellites for the Government of Canada. In 2017, MDA acquired DigitalGlobe, a US imagery company and was rebranded as Maxar Technologies.
“I am very proud to lead MDA at such a pivotal moment in this great company’s history,” said Mike Greenley, who was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of MDA by John Risley and Andrew Lapham of NPC. “It is inspiring to be associated with such eminent Canadian business leaders who share in a vision to turn MDA into a global powerhouse.”
As one of the largest independent suppliers of space components and systems in the world, MDA has been providing international prime contractors and partners with governments to help grow their space programs.
“We are open for business,” said Greenley. “As a space company with a big Canadian flag on our backpack and decades of experience in the space sector building first-of-a-kind space systems, our ability to partner and collaborate will be unmatched.”
The NPC-led consortium has acquired all of MDA’s operations across Canada and the UK through a combination of equity and debt.
“MDA is truly a made-in-Canada success story with global growth potential resulting from its industry-leading technologies across multiple segments of the growing space sector,” said Risley. “We are excited to roll up our sleeves with MDA leadership to help shape its future evolution and expansion.”