BREAKING: MDA Space announces definitive agreement to acquire US-based Blue Canyon Technologies LLC
Press Release + Noah Note
Expands Total Addressable Market for MDA Space
Positions company to further pursue substantial US defence market opportunities
Adds a profitable, cash-generating business with 18-year history
Transaction expected to be accretive to Adjusted EBITDA1 and Adjusted EPS1 in 2027
Adds high-quality spacecraft and satellite component supplier business and US$3.5B (approx. C$4.9B) to pipeline
Complementary technology and customer set
Adds key talent & manufacturing facilities in Denver, Colorado space & aerospace hub
TORONTO, June 19, 2026 /CNW/ - MDA Space Ltd. (TSX:MDA) (NYSE:MDA) (the "Company"), a trusted mission partner to the rapidly expanding global space industry, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the membership interests of Blue Canyon Technologies LLC in an all-cash transaction for a purchase price and enterprise value of US$620 million (approximately C$874 million), subject to purchase price adjustments. Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) is a spacecraft and satellite component manufacturer and mission services provider, currently part of RTX's Raytheon business.
With more than 85 spacecraft launched and 3,500+ products on orbit, BCT has established impressive flight heritage and mission success since the company was founded in 2008. Once completed, the transaction is expected to provide MDA Space with a strategic business and manufacturing footprint to capitalize on growing demand in the US government market for defence space missions. With over 400 highly skilled employees and two manufacturing facilities in the Denver, Colorado space and aerospace hub, BCT offers a diverse and innovative product portfolio that enables a broad range of missions for the space economy.
"The acquisition of Blue Canyon Technologies is expected to accelerate our growth strategy by increasing our US market opportunities with highly complementary capabilities, local manufacturing footprint and a skilled and specialized talent base," said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space. "Securing those strategic benefits on an accretive basis with a profitable and cash-generating business makes this an ideal fit for MDA Space expansion and continued shareholder value creation."
Transaction Details
The transaction will add a profitable, cash-generating business that is expected to be accretive to Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS in 2027. With an 18-year history, BCT is a high-quality spacecraft and satellite component supplier that will add US$3.5B (approximately C$4.9B) to our opportunity pipeline. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals, and is fully committed and financed at signing through senior secured debt. As part of our ongoing capital allocation framework, we will evaluate opportunities to optimize our capital structure over time, subject to market conditions and broader capital deployment priorities. This transaction is expected to result in 2026 pro forma leverage within our stated target range of 1.5x to 2.5x net debt to last twelve months adjusted EBITDA.
Conference Call
MDA Space will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the transaction on Friday, June 19, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Interested parties can join the call by dialing 1-416-945-7677 (Toronto area) or 1-888-699-1199 (toll-free North America) or +44-800-279-7040 (toll-free United Kingdom) and entering the conference ID 30111. A live webcast of the conference call and an accompanying slide presentation will be available at https://mda-en.investorroom.com/events-presentations.
A replay of the webcast will be archived on the MDA Space Investor Relations website following the call. Parties may also access a recording of the call, which will be available until June 26, 2026, by dialing 1-888-660-6345 and entering the passcode 30111#.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects the company's current expectations regarding future events. Such forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information with respect to the Company's objectives and strategies to achieve these objectives, as well as information with respect to the Company's beliefs, plans, expectations, anticipations, estimates, intentions and views of future events, including statements regarding the proposed acquisition, the anticipated timing for the closing of the acquisition, the anticipated benefits, synergies and growth opportunities expected to result from the acquisition, and any projected, estimated or forecasted financial information presented in connection therewith. There can be no assurance that: (i) the acquisition will be completed on the anticipated timeline, or at all, and the closing of the acquisition may be delayed or may not occur within the anticipated timeframe or at all; (ii) the conditions to the closing of the acquisition will be satisfied, including the receipt of all required regulatory, governmental and third-party approvals, and the failure to obtain any such approvals or satisfy any such conditions could delay or prevent the closing of the acquisition; (iii) any projected, estimated or forecasted financial information presented in connection with the acquisition will be achieved, as such projections are based on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, and actual results may differ materially from those projected, estimated or forecasted; and (iv) the anticipated strategic benefits, growth opportunities and synergies described in connection with the acquisition will be realized as expected, or at all, as such benefits may take longer to realize than anticipated, may be more costly to achieve than expected, or may not be realized at all.
All forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by MDA Space in light of management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate, and are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of MDA Space to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including without limitation the risk that the acquisition will not be completed on the anticipated timeline or at all, the risk that conditions to the closing of the acquisition will not be satisfied, including the receipt of all required regulatory, governmental and third-party approvals, and the risks and uncertainties detailed under the "Risk Factors" section of MDA Space's annual information form dated March 4, 2026. Although MDA Space believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect and there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information included within this press release. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, MDA Space is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
ABOUT MDA SPACE
Building the space between proven and possible, MDA Space (TSX:MDA) (NYSE:MDA) is a trusted mission partner to the global defence and space industry. A robotics, satellite systems and geointelligence pioneer with a 55-year+ story of world firsts and more than 450 missions, MDA Space is a global leader in communications satellites, Earth and space observation, and space exploration and infrastructure. The global MDA Space team of more than 4,000 space experts has the knowledge and know-how to turn an audacious customer vision into an achievable mission -- bringing to bear a one-of-a-kind mix of experience, engineering excellence and wide-eyed wonder that's been in our DNA since day one. For those who dream big and push boundaries on the ground and in the stars to change the world for the better, we'll take you there. For more information, visit mda.space.
Noah Note: WOW. This was absolutely not what I expected to see on a Friday morning. This will get glossed by a lot of people, but this is absolutely a big freaking deal. It not only positions MDA well, but also helps solve one of their big supply chain vulnerabilities they have.
For those that don't know, Blue Canyon is an RTX company that primarily develops Cube/Micro satellites, standardized buses, and satellite components like reaction wheels, gyroscopes, solar systems, batteries, etc.
Primarily they are known for their XACT GNC system, and FlexCore but mainly XACT, essentially the autonomous steering brain for a satellite for those uninitiated. Its entire job is to keep the spacecraft perfectly stable and pointed exactly where it needs to go in the vacuum of space.
By handling all the complex navigation math automatically, XACT gives a tiny satellite the pinpoint aiming accuracy required of a modern, maneuverable constellation. XACT is specifically designed to also be integrated onto small and micro satellite buses.
For MDA, XACT/FlexCore is probably the most significant technical part of this acquisition. Its acquisition helps fill a major gap in MDA's supply chain for GNC systems, something they've already been a customer with Blue Canyon on. Until now, this has been a big area where MDA has had to purchase from outside.
With MDA charging to establish themselves as an end-to-end, vertically integrated manufacturing base, acquiring Blue Canyon helps immediately fix a few of those major gaps. Along with XACT/FlexCore this acquisition also gives MDA access to Blue Canyon's solar array and battery systems, another critical area that MDA has historically gone to others for.
There are a few things still with gaps, like cOBCs and GNSS systems, that are likely to remain out of this network, but the acquisition of Blue Canyon does help bolster the company's internal supply chain significantly.
It also significantly increases the company's manufacturing footprint in the United States by including Blue Canyon's 31,000 square foot CubeSat facility and their 80,000 square foot headquarters in Lafayette, which includes manufacturing facilities for the company's larger buses, like the Saturn 400.
The buses themselves, while potentially useful, are not the star to me of this deal. Blue Canyon has a number of proprietary designs under its banner from small CubeSats up to its largest, the Saturn 400, a 600kg satellite, ESPA-Grande-class bus optimized for U.S. Space Force and missile-defense requirements.
The Saturn 400 could be very interesting for MDA, depending. It fits nicely between microsatellites and MDA's Aurora Bus in terms of size and payload. It features high SwAP margins specifically to support the integration of AESA and SAR payloads.
Its development came out of DARPA's Blackjack Program, which aimed to investigate whether a constellation of small, relatively inexpensive Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites could autonomously process data, share it via optical inter-satellite links (laser mesh networks), and survive in a contested environment.
That was with the Saturn-200. The 400 came out of the demands of the Golden Dome and Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) program, which demands something larger than the 200 to accommodate larger payloads.
That, of course, is the other big thing about this acquisition. MDA is already one of many players (quite literally thousands) selected to participate in SHIELD. The company, though, has lacked a present, integrated American footprint to really participate as the Trump Administration wishes.
Blue Canyon holds facility security clearances from the U.S. Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. The company has already participated in DND programs, and MDA is getting all of that. The facilities, workforce. That alone gives them a major boost to their American expansion efforts.
Even then, Canada benefits by further bringing significant IP under Canadian control. We talk a lot about IP, especially with a Defence Industrial Strategy and DIA that puts a premium. Oftentimes we focus on creating viable pathways for Canadian IP to be developed, but we also have cases like this, where industry, when given the opportunities, can reliably secure their own IP sources under a Canadian banner.
That comes from companies being given the chances and support to succeed, something that MDA has been given the mandate for over the last year.
They're contracted with BAE to support the U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC) MEO EPOCH 2 Constellation program. They're contracted to deliver the GBO component of SOS 2, Theyre contracted on ESCP-P with Telesat. Theyre Teaming with Hanwha to pursue the Korean Military Constellation Program. They're pursuing Chorus and Midnight. There is an absolute ton of stuff they're doing, even with losing some pretty major deals last year.
This deal puts MDA in a massive benefit position to pursue American contracts, brings a massive list of critical components that they’ve been missing under their banner, and secures a significant mass of IP under a Canadian banner. This is the type of acquisition that I expect we’ll see the folks at the DIA use as an example of Canadian companies expanding and supporting the Defence Industrial Strategy and Defence Industrial Base.
Overall a fantastic move, a huge congrats to the folks at MDA!