subject: L-1 Identity Solutions (NYSE:ID): +20% French Aerospace Firm Buys ID [print this page] L-1 provides secure ID credentials to both government and commercial customers and also specializes in biometric security, such as fingerprint, iris and face recognition. Safran said it will operate L-1 as part of its existing Morpho security arm, in accordance with U.S. national security regulations. "This will allow us to grow L-1's business, while expanding the reach of L-1's services to other key territories around the world," said Safran CEO Jean-Paul Herteman.
As a condition of this deal, L-1 needed to sell the government consulting division, which was sold to UK's BAE Systems for 296 Million.
Trading was brisk with L-1's shares rising to $ll.64 on volume of 86,820,162 compared to an average volume of 1,348,900 at time of this post.
Safran will then become No.1 in security biometrics. A number of conditions will have to be met before final acquisition, including gaining approval from the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment, who will look at any national-security implications for the deal.
No mention is given about how this deal will impact the US, or any jobs that might go with it. Connecticut-based L-1, formed in 2006 through a merger of Viisage and Identix, put itself up for sale in February.
Deal volumes in the aerospace and defense industry have reached $4.2 billion so far this year, not counting the L-1 deal, up 45 percent from the same period a year earlier.
