AEROSPACE

Lockheed Martin to Divest Stake in Materials Firm: The Bethesda, Md.-based company, seeking to reduce its debt burden after a major acquisition and concentrate on its core operations, will divest an $840-million interest in Martin Marietta Materials Inc. Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractor, incurred about $3.5 billion of debt to help finance its $9-billion acquisition of Loral Corp. in April. Lockheed Martin has promised lenders it will sell $1.5 billion of non-core assets by the end of next year and use the proceeds to pay down borrowings, analysts say. The company wants to cash in its largest non-core asset: an 81% stake in Martin Marietta Materials, a Raleigh, N.C., supplier of sand, stone and gravel aggregates used to build roads and other projects, Lockheed Martin said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.