ROME (Reuters) – Italy blocked the Italian part of Safran’s plan to acquire the flight controls and actuation business of Collins Aerospace because it could have threatened supplies to its army, the president of the Commission said on Wednesday. Italian council, Giorgia Meloni.
This decision was taken to avoid “potential risks (…) for the reaction capacity of our armed forces” and “potential interruptions in our logistics chain”, said Giorgia Meloni during a visit to Berlin after s be spoken to by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The possible solutions which would have made it possible to approve this acquisition under conditions would not have sufficiently preserved Italy’s national interests, she continued, adding that Rome would have “the opportunity (…) to explain to its allies the reasons for this measure.
Safran announced Monday that it had been informed of the Italian government’s decision to exercise its “golden power” to prevent the sale to the French aeronautical equipment manufacturer of Microtecnica, the company bringing together the assets of Collins Aerospace located in Italy.
It is rare for the Italian government to use this measure against a company from another European Union country, in this case France, whose State is Safran’s largest shareholder.
Microtecnica is one of the activities that Safran intends to buy from Collins Aerospace for 1.8 billion euros.
(Written by Alvise Armellini, Bertrand Boucey, edited by Jean Terzian)
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