Leonardo, because Drs sells Aac to the French Thales
Drs, Leonardo's US subsidiary, has signed a binding agreement for the sale of the investment in the Advanced Acoustic Concepts (Aac) joint venture to Tdsi, a subsidiary of the French company Thales
Drs, Leonardo's American subsidiary, gets rid of the Aac stake.
Today the Italian aerospace and defense group announced that Leonardo Drs has signed a binding agreement for the sale of the shareholding in the Advanced acoustic concepts (Aac) joint venture to Tdsi, a subsidiary of the French company Thales. Aac is a joint venture between Leonardo Drs and Thales Defense & Security active in the supply of sound.
The news follows the March announcement of the signing of the final agreement on the sale of the Global Enterprise Solutions (Ges) business.
The company did not disclose the financial details of the transaction. The consideration for DRS's stake in the JV is expected to amount to around € 50 million, according to two sources familiar with the matter, writes Reuters .
The closing is scheduled for the second half of 2022. Thus Leonardo confirms the 2022 guidance relating to the Group's net debt of approximately € 3.1 billion.
Therefore, Leonardo continues to rationalize its business portfolio to focus on defense electronics and helicopters. And applauds the market. At 3pm the Leonardo stock rose by 2% to € 10.20 per share.
All the details.
LEONARDO'S STRATEGY
“The operation represents a further step forward in the execution of the Industrial Plan, in line with the focus on the core business”, commented Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo. “Together with the recent sale of the Ges business, this represents a further step forward in the process of refocusing the business portfolio of Drs”.
THE ASSIGNMENT OF GES
In fact, at the end of March, Drs signed a binding agreement for the sale of the Global Enterprise Solutions (Ges) business to Ses for an amount equal to 450 million dollars.
Ges is the largest commercial satellite communications provider to the US government and offers mission-critical satellite communications and world-class security solutions to customers around the world.
WHAT AAC DOES
Aac is a US company active in the field of advanced sonar systems, training and knowledge management.
The company works with the United States Navy as a US industry contractor, providing innovative systems and solutions in the Navy's underwater sensor domain. The company has over 200 employees. Aac generated revenues of $ 80 million in 2021.
THALES STRENGTHENS IN THE STARS AND STRIPS MARKET
“Aac's technical skills, industrial footprint and proven experience will allow Thales to strengthen its presence in the US defense market,” reads the note from the French company. Thales will thus strengthen Tdsi's teams and capabilities in the US. After the closing, Aac's systems and solutions will integrate the capabilities of Thales underwater systems and the technology portfolio.
THE COMMENT OF BANCA AKROS
Finally, Banca Akros recalls "that the financial terms of the sale were not disclosed, but highlights that US defense companies trade on average 2 times on the expected revenues in 2022. If this multiple is applied to AAC's revenues for the 2021, an evaluation of 70 million euros is deduced for the 50% share. A proceeds that are added to the 450 million dollars (420 million euros) that Drs should obtain from the sale announced in March of Global Enterprise Solutions (Ges) to Ses ”reports MF .
THE BESTINVER ANALYSIS
Bestinver also reminds us that the strategy of rationalizing the group's activities towards a process of divesting non-strategic assets continues. "Even if the most important dossiers (Oto Melara and Wass) remain on the table and are certainly more complicated to manage given the changed geopolitical scenario".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/leonardo-perche-drs-vende-aac-alla-francese-thales/ on Tue, 26 Apr 2022 14:04:59 +0000.