Because the government will push for Oto Melara in Fincantieri
What the government hopes for and what is said in the majority that supports the Draghi executive on the sale of Oto Melara and Wass by Leonardo
Leonardo close to the sale of Oto Melara, historic manufacturer of cannons and armored vehicles, and Wass, which builds torpedoes and underwater drones, both merged into the Defense Systems division of the former Finmeccanica in 2016.
For several weeks there have been rumors of a possible sale of the former Oto Melara to Fincantieri, as far as the naval production sector is concerned, and to a Franco-German complex for the terrestrial part.
According to press sources, as early as this summer Fincantieri was in talks with Leonardo for the purchase of Oto Melara , with the aim of giving life to a strengthening of an industrial center.
But the game for the acquisition of Leonardo's Defense Systems division crosses national borders and the negotiation extends beyond the two state subsidiaries.
The Franco-German consortium Knds also presented Leonardo with an offer to buy Oto Melara.
He reported it on Friday last Republic which explained how "not only the maintenance of full employment, but also the entry of our country into the project for the new tank launched by Macron and Merkel" was put on the plate. Or "the euro-tank MGCS, which aspires to be the protagonist of a market worth over eleven billion euros".
According to the newspaper, French President Emmanuel Macron has already talked about it to Mario Draghi.
But the Knds consortium is not the only European player that would like to get its hands on Leonardo's Defense Systems (SDI) BU. There are also the German Rheinmetall ( as Start had reported here ) and, in the background, the British of Bae Systems, writes La Stampa today.
So far, Leonardo's CEO Alessandro Profumo has refused to comment on the possible sale of Oto Melara. Meanwhile, Repubblica described Knds' offer as "more substantial" than Fincantieri's, and said it was worth up to three times as much.
"Hypothesis that well-informed sources heard by Defense Analysis have denied", wrote the director of Defense Analysis , Gianandrea Gaiani.
"Knds would have offered 650/700 million euros for both assets (based on an estimated turnover for the two assets of over 550 million with a margin of around 10%, the price offered implies a multiple of more than 10 times, higher than that to which Leonardo deals) and Fincantieri 200 million less (450 million) ” reported today MF .
The united front against the foreign sale is that of the trade unions, according to which to sell the SDI division to European subjects would mean losing "a highly strategic sector, one of the main suppliers of the Italian armed forces" which employs between direct and indirect 1,500 workers in La Spezia.
And the Draghi government is also studying alternative hypotheses.
In fact, politics pushes for a solution that allows a strategic company like Oto Melara to remain in "Italian and public" hands.
Yesterday on Sky TG24 Giorgio Mulè, Undersecretary of Defense at Forza Italia, spoke in favor of the sale to Fincantieri to "give that push that avoids a national and strategic company from ending up in Franco-German hands". Firm opposition to the sale abroad of Oto Melara also by the president of the Liguria Region, Giovanni Toti: "It must remain Italian".
All the details on the positions of the main parties, from the Lega to the Democratic Party, from Forza Italia to Italia Viva up to Coraggio Italia.
THE POSITION OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MULÈ (FORZA ITALIA)
"Italy must insist on creating a defense industrial and engineering pole ready to take on leadership in Europe: the opportunity is around the corner with the sale of the former Oto Melara that Fincantieri is able to detect, even assuming the intervention of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti ”, Undersecretary of Defense Giorgio Mulè remarked yesterday in an interview with Sky Tg24 .
Mulè added that in this way "we can give that push that avoids a national and strategic company from ending up in Franco-German hands, at the same time stimulating the birth of this pole of national interest in the field of defense".
FORZA ITALIA PUSHES FOR FINCANTIERI
And it was Forza Italia who supported the position expressed by Undersecretary of Defense Mulè on the dossier concerning Oto Melara and Wass.
"We are absolutely convinced that it is a priority to preserve its Italian character from a European perspective", declared Maria Tripodi, head of Forza Italia in the Defense Commission at Montecitorio, who added: "I am amazed at how we can think of a sale of a national strategic heritage to foreign groups, on the other hand, it is necessary to act in the opposite way and to create synergy primarily with national industrial players such as Fincantieri and provide for the participation of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti to give the national defense sector a European breath, as the times require.
"It is highly desirable that Oto Melara remains in Italian hands with the completion of the sale to Fincantieri and that the company, in the same way, is not subject to the sale of individual business units to different entities". Thus, in a note, the vice president of the Forza Italia group in the Chamber, Matteo Perego, according to whom "the logic of safeguarding national strategic assets and technologies must prevail, both in the maritime and terrestrial dimensions, also in light of the agenda of the Italian Defense on the modernization of land capabilities ".
AS WELL AS THE LEAGUE
Also "for the League, the government must ensure that strategic companies in the Defense sector such as former Oto Melara and former Wass, put up for sale by Leonardo, remain Italian and under public control, through the acquisition by Fincantieri". This was reported by sources of the Carroccio according to which the protection of national interests, especially in a delicate sector such as defense, "requires the exclusion of the sale to foreign industrial groups also to protect innovation, production capacity and highly qualified jobs".
PD: PROMOTE FINCANTIERI
The Democratic Party also agrees on the need to keep Oto Melara and Wass with Fincantieri within the national industrial perimeter.
"Italy has deployed important resources for the modernization of the terrestrial part and we believe it is right to open immediately both a political-institutional confrontation and with the workers so that the assets remain Italian and public property through the acquisition by Fincantieri" , said on Saturday the deputies Alberto Pagani, leader of the Pd group of the Defense commission of the Chamber, Enrico Borghi, head of security of the Democratic Party and the senator dem Vito Vattuone, of the Defense commission of the Senate.
ITALIA VIVA: "SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY"
Italia Viva also shares the same opinion, with the words Giuseppina Occhionero, group leader in the Defense Committee in the Chamber, affirms that “the development of the national industry cannot be separated from a vision of integration that also looks to the search for European partners. The consolidation of the Italian productive force passes through national sovereignty which must necessarily be safeguarded ”.
COURAGE ITALY: CREATION OF A DEFENSE POLE IN LIGURIA
In favor of an exclusive negotiation with Fincantieri for Oto Melara also Coraggio Italia, party of the president of the Liguria Region Toti.
“The development of fundamental industrial partnerships at European level, in the defense sector, cannot involve the alienation of strategic assets of the highest technological level”. This was declared by the group leader of Coraggio Italia in the Chamber, Marco Marin, and the head of the delegation to the Senate, Paolo Romani, according to which "in the negotiations around the constitution of a consortium for the construction of the next euro-tank, the hypothesis of a important Italian participation by creating a defense pole in Liguria, where three Fincantieri shipyards already exist. "
AGREES THE PRESIDENT OF THE REGION TOTI
Indeed, Toti, one of the founders of Coraggio Italia, agrees: “Leonardo's sale of the former Oto Melara in La Spezia cannot be yet another disposal of a national strategic industry”, said the president of the Liguria Region.
"A lot of technology, so delicate, in the defense sector must remain firmly in Italian hands", Toti declared yesterday, pointing out that in Liguria, thanks to the presence of three shipyards of Fincantieri, "there is the possibility of creating an extraordinary defense pole linked to the competences of the territory and indispensable to the country ".
THE COMMENT OF THE EXPERT GAIANI (DIRECTOR OF DEFENSE ANALYSIS)
Finally, “we should at least consider the government's willingness to maintain Italian and public ownership of the factories and capacities of the two companies as desirable” commented Gianandrea Gaiani, director of Difesa Analysis . “Keeping leading companies such as Oto and Wass within the national industrial perimeter means in fact safeguarding production capacity, jobs and competitiveness on the markets over time. In fact, it is quite clear that selling the former Oto Melara and Wass to the Franco-Germans means allowing our European rivals to acquire national know-how and excellence in strategic sectors with the risk that within a few years the Italian plants will be closed to concentrate the production in France and Germany ”concluded Gaiani.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/il-governo-spingera-per-oto-melara-a-fincantieri/ on Mon, 15 Nov 2021 12:02:45 +0000.