Magellan Corp. and Marine Electronics Leader Lowrance Electronics Inc. to Merge

Lowrance Electronics Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., will be merged into California-based Magellan Corp., a leading satellite access products company, as a result of a merger agreement among those companies and Magellan's parent company Orbital Sciences Corp. The transaction will create a nearly $150 million, satellite-based, consumer and recreational electronics business under the Magellan banner, according to David W. Thompson, Magellan chairman and Orbital president and CEO. "Lowrance is a leading-edge technology company whose technical know-how in GPS and sonar can be applied to emerging commercial and industrial applications and integrated with other Magellan technologies such as GPS satellite navigation and ORBCOMM satellite data communications," said John Huyett, Magellan president and CEO. The announcement of the Lowrance acquisition follows other recent business news from Magellan including the unveiling of a new $50 million joint venture between Magellan and Hertz Corp. to deploy 50,000 Magellan-built vehicle navigation units in Hertz's car rental fleet, and an agreement to partner with Topcon Corp. to develop GPS-based precision products for survey, GIS mapping and machine control.