Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder, has through its subsidiary INSIS acquired a majority share in Support Logistic Services (SLS), a company based in Guidonia Montecelio (Roma), specialized in the production, installation and maintenance of radar, satellite and radio communications systems for military and civil applications, the shipbuilder said in a statement.

“The operation falls within the Group’s strategy to strengthen its competence in high-technology activities. As such, it is consistent with the development plan conceived for the newborn Electronics, Systems & Software Division to foster and improve innovation, its main competitive strength,” Fincantieri said..

Last year, SLS had revenues of about €9 million, which is expected to further increase this year, almost half of the company’s 35 employees are engineers, systems analysts, design engineers and qualified technicians.

Fincantieri has undertaken several actions to diversify and expand its product and service portfolio, steering it towards higher added-value solutions over the past few years.

This will allow the company to gain direct access to a pool of highly qualified resources, to set up a high-technology center of excellence, while, at the same time, enabling SLS to further boost its industrial growth and its turnover. 

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, commented: “This operation fits into our far-reaching strategy to consolidate and safeguard a supply chain made up of small and medium-sized enterprises. A dedicated corporate division will coordinate the various companies, which will continue to operate independently according to their intrinsic business approaches. This will allow them to retain key resources, expanding the pool of expertise of our Group”.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the usual conditions envisaged for comparable operations, as well as to the Italian Government refraining from exercising the “golden power” and to obtaining all the necessary authorizations from the relevant authorities.