Racal-vadic Product Sheet

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Frequently Asked Questions

• What happened to Racal Instruments?

  Racal was purchased by Thomson-CSF (now Thales Group) in 2000, thereby giving the French firm access to the UK defence and armaments market. In 2001, Racal Instruments, Inc. became an independent company after a leveraged buyout from Thales.

• What company did Racal buy out in 1980?

  The Milgo and Vadic purchases increased U.S. sales tremendously, from $5 million to an estimated $355 million between 1976 and 1982. In 1980, Racal bought the British firm Decca Ltd. Analysts at the time believed that Decca would give Racal too many businesses "irrelevant" to its major activities.

• Is Racal Electronics owned by Vodafone?

  On 29 December 1986, Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for £110 million. In 1988, 20% of Racal Telecom was floated on the London Stock Exchange. This would lead to the situation where Racal Electronics was valued at less than its shareholding in Racal Telecom.

• Who is the founder of Racal RA17?

  Racal RA17 communications receiver Racal was created in 1950 as Racal Ltd, the name being derived from the names of the partners, Raymond Brown and George Calder Cunningham. Ernest Harrison joined the company as employee number 13 as an accountant, but later held the positions of chief buyer, personnel director and contract negotiator.

• What happened to Racal's original chairman?

  Harrison joined the company board in 1958, and as deputy managing director from 1961 helped Racal to obtain a Stock Market listing. Harrison became chairman in 1966, when co-founder Ray Brown was lured away by the Ministry of Defence. Under Harrison, £1,000 invested in Racal in 1961 would have been worth £14.5million when he retired in 2000.

• What happened to Racal defence electronics?

  In 1995, Racal expanded its defence businesses with the acquisition of the Thorn Sensors Group from Thorn EMI. In 1998, all of Racal defence businesses were reorganised under Racal Defence Electronics Ltd into Racal Radar Defence Systems, Racal Radio and Racal Thorn.

• What happened to Racal Acoustics?

  Then in January 2000 Thomson-CSF announced a bid for the Company: Racal became Thomson-CSF Racal plc and later part of Thales plc with the renaming of the larger Thomson-CSF to Thales Group. In December 2008, Racal Acoustics Ltd was acquired by Esterline Technologies, and has become part of their Communications Systems platform.

• What did Racal buy Decca for?

  With Decca, Racal acquired defense radar, avionics, and marine and survey electronics capabilities. Another bidding contest, this time with rival British electronics firm General Electric, hiked Decca's sale price from $150 million to $250 million.