Shareholders of aerospace company United Technologies (UTC) and defence contractor Raytheon have approved the companies' planned merger, putting the deal on track to close in the first half of 2020.
The agreement, still subject to regulatory approvals, calls for unification of Raytheon and UTC's aerospace companies, which include Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace.
The combined company would be called Raytheon Technologies and have some $74 billion in annual revenue, the companies say.
Raytheon's stockholders would own 43% of the merged company and UTC's stockholders would own 57%.
Analyst say the merged entity would have sufficient heft to counter the world's largest aerospace companies, including $71 billion-revenue Airbus and $101 billion-revenue Boeing.
Shareholders of both companies voted "overwhelming to approve the deal," say Massachusetts-based Raytheon and Connecticut-based UTC in a joint media release.
"Today's vote reflects a significant step on our path to unite two world-class companies with complementary technologies and supports our view that this merger of equals will create additional growth opportunities," says Raytheon chief executive Tom Kennedy.
As part of the deal, UTC intends to divest non-aerospace businesses Otis and Carrier.
The deal cannot close without approvals by regulators in Africa, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, South Korean, Taiwan, Turkey and the USA, according to regulatory documents.
