Honeywell sees space opportunity with $1.9 billion CAES acquisition

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. manufacturing giant Honeywell plans to buy defense electronics maker CAES for $1.9 billion to enhance its military hardware for space and other domains.

Honeywell said June 20 it had agreed an all-cash deal to buy the Arlington, Virginia-based company from private equity firm Advent International.

The deal does not include Cobham Satcom, which provides ground-based terminals for satellite communications.

Advent bought CAES (Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions) for about $5 billion in 2020 from Cobham, a British defense and aerospace contractor, and sold its space-related assets to a separate private equity firm two years later. 

Still, Honeywell said it sees opportunities to use radio frequency technology from CAES to improve its defense offerings across space, land, sea and air.

The company said the technology it is acquiring also includes new electromagnetic defense solutions for end-to-end RF signal management. 

The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals Honeywell expects to get before the end of this year, would also come with 2,200 employees and 13 facilities across North America.

Honeywell, which is helping qualify satellite laser communications terminals for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, is present in multiple markets, including aviation and energy. The group reported $36.7 billion in revenue for 2023.

In March, Honeywell announced plans to buy Civitanavi Systems, which provides position navigation and timing technology for the aerospace, defense and industrial markets, in a $200 million deal.

Honeywell has also recently completed a $5 billion acquisition of Carrier Global’s digital security solutions business.

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