NEW YORK, Feb 14 — US defence company Lockheed Martin has given up its US$4.4 billion (RM18 billion) takeover of propulsion systems manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne after regulators sued to stop the deal.

In a statement released yesterday, Lockheed Martin cited the lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in late January as the reason for abandoning the deal, which the FTC argued would lead to higher costs on defence systems.

"Our planned acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne would have benefitted the entire industry through greater efficiency, speed and significant cost reductions for the US government,” James Taiclet, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, said in a statement.

"However, we determined that in light of the FTC’s actions, terminating the transaction is in the best interest of our stakeholders.”

The FTC complaint was the first time in decades the competition regulator opposed a deal in the defence sector.

In its own statement, Aerojet said, "We are confident in our future performance with an impressive backlog that is more than three times the size of our annual sales and a strong macroeconomic environment underpinning our portfolio.” — AFP