Since acquiring a Danbury engineering lab in 2002, DRS Technologies Inc. has remained committed to the facility ”“ a year at a time. Now undergoing a buyout itself by an Italian aerospace manufacturer, DRS has yet to indicate definitively whether it will be in Danbury for the long term.
In May, DRS agreed to a $5.2 billion sale to Finmeccanica S.p.A., just as the Parsippany, N.J.-based DRS marks its 40th year in business.
DRS spokesman Rich Goldberg said merger details have yet to be finalized, but said the Danbury facility is important and the company is committed to the city.
The company continues to hire employees for the Danbury office, including a search for a director of engineering to lead overall strategy on that front.
Originally known as Diagnostic Retrieval Systems, DRS sells a wide range of electronic systems to the military, with its DRS Power & Control Technologies division making systems to convert power between alternating current and direct current on U.S. Navy combat ships, as well as instrumentation.
DRS generated a $166 million profit last year on $3.3 billion in revenue.
DRS paid Eaton Corp. $100 million in 2002 to acquire the division and its two primary facilities in Danbury and Milwaukee, Wis. DRS has renewed the lease near the Danbury-Bethel line annually in one-year installments since, and that lease is again to run out this month. With Finmeccanica taking a controlling stake, however, it is uncertain what restructuring actions the Italian company might make following the deal”™s close.
The company”™s 175,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse facility in Bridgeport is also up for renewal in September.
Finmeccanica has several facilities in the Northeast, including in East Hanover, N.J., where its Ansaldo Energia power-turbine business has an office. According to Reuters, however, the company is considering a spin off of Ansaldo Energia to help finance the DRS acquisition.
DRS does not rank among Danbury”™s largest corporate employers, which include Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cartus Corp. and General Electric Co.
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DRS had 10,200 employees as of March, with some 70 at DRS Power & Control Technologies represented by a union. The company gives employees every other Friday off, allowing them to make the time up on the other nine workdays during that span.
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