
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994                   TAG: 9404050169
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

GRUMMAN SHAREHOLDERS ASKED TO OK NORTHROP

NEW YORK - Northrop Corp. on Monday won the takeover battle for Grumman Corp., sweeping in with a $2.17 billion bid and breaking up a merger agreement with Martin Marietta Corp.

Grumman's board unanimously approved Northrop's offer and recommended that shareholders sell to the Los Angeles-based maker of the B-2 stealth bomber.

The fight for Grumman resulted from consolidation of the defense industry in response to Pentagon cutbacks. Companies are scrambling to buy each other to establish dominance.

Grumman, based in Bethpage, N.Y., and former operator of a fire-engine assembly plant in Roanoke, had asked both its suitors to submit their best offers in sealed bids Thursday. Northrop responded with a $62-per-share bid, while Martin Marietta conceded the contest by leaving its $55-per-share, or $1.93 billion, offer unchanged.

The combined company, to be called Northrop Grumman Corp. would have annual revenues of more than $8 billion.

- Associated Press

by CNB