In order to lower its debt (currently estimated at $ 3.1 million) and to be able to consider new investments (especially in artificial intelligence), the U.S. satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies announced on December 30 its intention to sell its Canadian commercial unit MDA (MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates). The company, well known for supplying the Canadarm, the robotic arm of the International Space Station, was acquired by Maxar in October 2017.

The beneficiary of the future sale, which amounts to € 690 million (CAD 1 billion), is a consortium administered by Northern Private Capital (NPC), a private investment company based in Toronto. The transaction concerns all of MDA's Canadian activities: ground receiving stations, satellite radar products, robotics, defense and components for satellites. MDA, which employ some 1,900 people, including in Montreal, will operate as a stand-alone company within NPC’s portfolio, keeping its name and positioning itself again as the main space and defense company in Canada (it would have generated a turnover of $ 485 million in 2019, and $ 110 million of profits).

MDA will continue to supply Maxar with certain components and subsystems, and the companies will continue to sell complementary satellite data to each other.