Italy's Finmeccanica Group, one of the leading European technology and equipment manufacturers for the aerospace, defence and security systems industry soon hopes to be supplying integrated systems on the Romanian market. The Italian giant, whose revenues amount to 7.8bn euros a year, decided to adopt a strong expansionist strategy on the international markets in response to competitive pressures from the American Lockheed Martin and the European Northropp Group, reflecting the increasingly global nature of the market.
"Our current contracts on the Romanian market are worth approximately 400 million euros. Finmeccanica has had a Romanian presence since 1981 when it started working with the Cernavoda Nuclear Power plant through the company Ansaldo Energia. We now want our companies (in the IT, defence and security system industry) that operate in Romania to work together and come up with an integrated supply programme. They should function as local companies," Nicolas Zalonis, Finmeccanica's senior vice-president of marketing and commercial affairs told Ziarul Financiar.
Finmeccanica's strategy for the Romanian market has two overriding targets: security for Romania's state borders and the provision of integrated systems for the defence industry. The Italians claim their competitive edge comes from the fact that they can provide full offers for border security and for the defence industry.
Finmeccanica designs and builds ships, helicopters (leading world producer due to its Agusta Westland, as used by the US Coast Guard), maritime patrol aircraft (used by the Italian Coast Guard and Border Police), satellites and space infrastructure for telecommunications, electronic defence systems, underwater systems, together with IT and security systems.
The Italians' latest move in Romania confirms the group's new expansion strategy.
"To meet the offset requirements, Marconi Selenia Communications bought the Electromecanica factory in Ploiesti, which was working for the defence industry. It thus recently established Elettra Communications SA, controlled by Marconi Selenia Communications (a division of Finmeccanica), which has a 51% stake. Another 42% is held by Romarm, while Marconi Selenia Communications Romania (the local branch) and several individuals hold the rest of the shares," Zaloni said. However, he did not reveal how much the deal was worth. The company currently employs 100 people.
Finmeccanica officials have not ruled out further partnerships, if the market thus demands them.
adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
