Magellan to buy Lowrance

[anon...@hotmail.com]

Some stories said "buy", some said "merge". Thought this would be of
interest to some.

Magellan Corporation and Marine Electronics Leader
Lowrance Electronics Inc. to Merge

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Lowrance
Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEIX) of Tulsa, OK, will be merged
into California-based Magellan Corporation, a leading satellite
access products company, as a result of a merger agreement
among those companies and Magellan's parent company Orbital
Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB). The transaction will create
a nearly $150 million, satellite-based, consumer and recreational
electronics business under the Magellan banner, according to
Magellan Chairman and Orbital President and CEO David W.
Thompson.

"This acquisition reflects our strategy of growing Magellan
through market expansion and acquisition of compatible
technology companies. With approximately $100 million in
annual sales, Lowrance Electronics has long been a leading player
in the marine and recreational electronics business, with a special
expertise in both GPS satellite navigation and sonar technology.
As such, Lowrance is a great fit with Magellan's already strong
position in satellite-based navigation and communications
products for marine, aviation, outdoor recreation and general
consumer electronics markets, as well as a great addition to
Magellan's technology capabilities," Thompson noted.

"Lowrance is a leading-edge technology company whose
technical know-how in GPS and sonar can be applied to
emerging commercial and industrial applications and integrated
with other Magellan technologies such as GPS satellite navigation
and ORBCOMM satellite data communications," said Magellan
President and CEO John Huyett.

Lowrance President and CEO Darrell Lowrance pointed to the
"synergies between the two organizations. Both Lowrance
Electronics and Magellan have pioneered commercial applications
of high technologies for consumer markets. The combined
Magellan-Lowrance consumer products group represents a
critical mass that is well-positioned for growth and market
expansion."

The acquisition will be accomplished through the exchange of
stock between the publicly traded Lowrance Electronics and
Orbital. Lowrance shareholders will receive between 1,250,000
shares and approximately 745,000 shares of Orbital common
stock with the actual number of Orbital shares issued to be
determined based on the market price of Orbital stock prior to
closing. Based on Orbital's Thursday, March 11, 1999, closing
price, Lowrance shareholders would receive approximately $24.1
million in value, or approximately $6.41 per share of Lowrance
common stock. Closing is expected later this year. The
transaction will be accounted for using the purchase method of
accounting.

Pending regulatory approval, the transaction will result in a
stronger, more capable satellite access products company
employing more than 1,000 people in locations throughout the
world, including product development, manufacturing and
distribution centers in Santa Clara and San Dimas, CA; Rochester
Hills, MI; Tulsa, OK; Ensenada, Mexico; Moscow, Russia;
Sydney, Australia; and Toronto, Canada.

The announcement of the Lowrance acquisition follows other
recent business news from Magellan including the unveiling of a
new $50 million joint venture between Magellan and Hertz
Corporation to deploy 50,000 Magellan-built vehicle navigation
units in Hertz' car rental fleet, and an agreement to partner with
Topcon Corporation to develop GPS-based precision products
for survey, GIS mapping and machine control. Background on
Lowrance and Magellan

Lowrance Electronics designs and manufactures sonar, GPS and
aviation instruments, distributing products under both the
Lowrance and Eagle brands throughout the United States and in
65 countries worldwide through a network of retail outlets
including boat dealers, marine electronics stores, mass merchants,
mail order catalogs, aviation electronics dealers and sporting
goods stores. The company was founded by Carl and Darrell
Lowrance in 1957 and introduced the world's first commercial
sonar instrument for sport fishing. Since then the company has
sold more than five million sonar units. In 1991 the company
introduced its first GPS-based satellite navigation products for the
boating and fishing markets and later expanded its product
offerings into the hunting, hiking and general aviation markets.
Lowrance designs and engineers products at its Tulsa, OK
headquarters and manufactures products in Tulsa and in a new
state-of-the-art electronics assembly facility in Ensenada, Mexico.

Magellan introduced the first hand-held GPS receiver in 1989,
and has sold more than two million GPS navigators and related
products since that time. Today the company specializes in
satellite access products for consumer, commercial, industrial and
scientific applications around the world. Magellan is organized
into six business units, including:

-- Professional Products Group which includes high-precision GPS
and
GPS+GLONASS equipment for survey, mapping and GIS.

-- Precision OEM (original equipment manufacturers) and Navigation
equipment for systems integration of GPS and GPS+GLONASS
capability.

-- Magellan Consumer Products for marine, outdoor recreation,
consumer
electronics, vehicle navigation and general aviation. The
consumer
product mix includes GPS mapping products for marine
applications;
hand-held GPS products for land, air and sea navigation;
satellite
telephones; ORBCOMM personal two-way satellite messaging units;
and
the newly introduced Magellan 750NAV turn-by-turn vehicle
navigation
unit.

-- ORBCOMM commercial and industrial products for worldwide,
two-way data
communications via the world's first low-Earth-orbit satellite
data
messaging service.

-- Magellan Driver Information Systems engineering and design for
vehicle
navigation and intelligent transportation systems, including
OEM
products, workforce automation and commercial vehicle fleet
markets.

-- Technology licensing and strategic partnerships with
world-class
manufacturing and technology organizations.

For information, contact Magellan Corporation Corporate
Communications, 960 Overland Court, San Dimas, CA, 91773,
(909) 394-5000, or visit the Magellan website at
www.magellangps.com.