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Update 12:25pm: Adds links to Warren letter.
Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE:AJRD) fell 1% amid a new push from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for the Federal Trade Commission to block L3Harris’s (NYSE:LHX) planned acquisition of the rocket maker. L3Harris jumped 8.1% post Q4 results.
“This deal between Aerojet and L3Harris would reduce competition in the shrinking defense industry to a new low, and I encourage the FTC to oppose this dangerous transaction,” Warren wrote in a letter Thursday to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan as well as two Democrats on the commission
Warren also wants the antitrust regulator to unwind Northrop Grumman’s (NOC) 2018 purchase of Ortital ATK, according to the report.
“The FTC should instead move to make the industry more competitive again by unwinding Northrop Grumman’s 2018 acquisition of solid rocket motor producer Orbital ATK that left Aerojet as the sole independent supplier,” Warren wrote in the letter.
The Warren letter comes after the FTC filed a lawsuit last January to block Lockheed Martin’s (LMT) $4.4 billion purchase of Aerojet (AJRD) due to antitrust concerns. Lockheed terminated the deal in February.
News of the Warren letter was earlier reported by AirForce Times.
Warren has been busy trying to block deals in recent days and months. Warren wrote a letter to the FTC on Thursday expressing her concerns about Amgen’s (AMGN) plan to buy Horizon Therapeutics (HZNP) and Indivior’s plan to buy Opiant Pharmaceuticals (OPNT).
