U.S. puts conditions on Smiths Group acquisition of Safran's Morpho

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday it will require Smiths Group Plc (Frankfurt: QS2A.F - news) to divest Morpho Detection LLC and Morpho Detection International LLC's global explosive trace detection business for Smiths to proceed with its proposed $710 million acquisition of Morpho from Safran SA (LSE: 0IU8.L - news) .

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction, the department said in a statement. The department also filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the department’s competitive concerns, the statement said. (Reporting by Eric Beech)