Shah Capital Partners, a private equity firm focusing on technology, will acquire GNSS receiver manufacturer Thales Navigation from the Thales Group, of Paris, France.

The two companies reached a “definitive agreement” on July 20, according to Shah Capital, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2006. Reportedly, the selling price was $170 million.

The deal will apparently bring back Magellan as a corporate name in the GNSS field as well as a popular brand of consumer GPS products. Thales Navigation will become Magellan Navigation, Inc. and be headquartered in San Dimas, California. The new name and headquarters evoke the Magellan Systems Corporation founded in the late 1980s and later merged with Ashtech, Inc. following the latter companies’ acquisition by first Orbital Science and then Thales in 2000.

Thales Navigation makes products using GPS and GPS/GLONASS technologies for OEM, survey, GIS and consumer markets worldwide.

Copyright 2006 Gibbons Media and Research LLC

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