Harris Corp. and L3 Technologies agreed to merge, confirmed Harris spokesman Jim Burke.
The combined company, L3 Harris Technologies, will be the sixth largest defense company in the U.S. with approximately 48,000 employees.
Although Mr. Burke did not have specifics on the pension plans, data from Pensions & Investments show that as of Sept. 30, 2017, Harris had $5.1 billion in defined benefit assets and $6.9 billion in defined contribution assets, while L3 had $1.5 billion in DB assets and $5.5 billion in DC assets, suggesting that the combined firm will have roughly $6.6 billion in DB assets and about $12.4 billion in defined contribution.
L3 announced in January that it planned to freeze all of its salaried employee defined benefit plans.
Once the merger is complete, Harris shareholders will own roughly 54% and L3 shareholders will own about 46% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.
The merger is expected to close in mid-2019, subject to customary closing conditions.
