Lockheed Martin says it’s terminating its agreement to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne, less than a month after the Federal Trade Commission filed suit to block the $4.4 billion deal. In a statement, Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet said that in light of the lawsuit, calling off the acquisition was “in the best interest of our stakeholders.” Aerojet makes a wide variety of rocket engines — including in-space propulsion systems that are manufactured at its facility in Redmond, Wash. — and the FTC said the deal would have given Lockheed Martin the ability to restrict purchases of critical hardware by its aerospace rivals.
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