This is how the government keeps Piaggio Aero alive
Defense Minister Guerini signed the decree for the purchase of 6 Piaggio Aerospace P180 aircraft. The new owner of the Ligurian company is expected shortly. Facts, numbers and scenarios
Waiting to know the buyer of the aerospace company Piaggio Aerospace, the government confirms the line to favor the operations of the Ligurian company, which has been in extraordinary administration since 2018.
Minister Lorenzo Guerini yesterday signed the inter-ministerial decree for the defense part for the acquisition of 6 P180 aircraft produced by Piaggio Aerospace for the Armed Forces. A note from the Ministry gives the news.
In particular, the decree, for a value of 171 million euros, authorizes the purchase of 6 P-180 EVO aircraft, the supply of a flight simulator and the extension of the maintenance contract for the Viper engines, which are also used on aircraft. of the PAN, National Aerobatic Team.
The Ligurian company therefore enriches its order portfolio in the final stages of the sales procedure of the business complexes.
Furthermore, during the week Piaggio Aerospace and the French company Safran Helicopter Engines signed a letter of intent for a collaboration in the production of the Ardiden 3 family of aircraft engines.
"THE COMMITMENT OF DEFENSE AND GOVERNMENT IN SUPPORT OF PIAGGIO AEROSPACE"
"The commitment of the Defense and the Government continues, which starting from 2019 have activated a series of initiatives aimed at supporting the company and its wealth of human and technological skills", said Minister Guerini on the occasion of the signing of the decree, which took place yesterday to the Ministry.
“The company has enjoyed measures that have allowed its operational continuity. The amount of the support measures has reached the current value which is over 700 million euros ”, underlines the note from the dicastery.
ORDERS FOR THE ITALIAN ARMED FORCES
The deed signed yesterday, it is added in the note, will allow the finalization of a new contract that is added to the previous ones, worth 540 million euros, started from 2019, relating to the maintenance and supply of Viper engine components, of engines for CH47 helicopters, maintenance of A129 Mangusta helicopter engines and modernization of the P180 fleet of the Armed Forces.
TOTAL ORDERS FOR P.180
In particular, the six new aircraft destined for the Armed Forces bring the overall orders of the P.180, including therefore those of private customers, to 20 units.
The order comes after the two contracts from the United States and the new contract from the Army concluded last April .
Therefore, the extraordinary commissioner Vincenzo Nicastro underlines "the industrial and occupational repercussions on the entire production chain".
JOINING THE ARDIDEN3 TEAM
Meanwhile, on 29 September Piaggio Aero also concluded an agreement with the French company Safran in engines.
This was announced by the aerospace company of Villanova d'Albenga in a joint press release with the Bordes-based company Piaggio Aerospace has been collaborating with Safran Helicopter Engines for some time on the Rtm322 and Aneto families of engines, for which it produces components of the hot section.
“With the Ardiden 3TP we are determined to build a 100% European engine, with a high level of design maturity and highly competitive operating and maintenance costs. Our product will be conceived and manufactured by highly experienced companies, which will deploy state-of-the-art industrial capabilities in all the countries involved: Italy, Germany, Spain and France ", comments Florent Chauvancy, oem sales executive vice president of Safran Helicopter Engines. .
"Joining the Ardiden3 program and the European Ardiden 3TP team is of great strategic value for Piaggio Aerospace: I am sure that the company will be able to bring all its experience to this new engine and its future applications", he commented. Nicastro.
THE POSITION OF MINISTER GUERINI
Government support coincides with the final phase of the troubled sales process of the Villanova d'Albenga company.
"As said in Parliament last April, although the business problems do not fall within the competence of the department, the Defense is still aware of and carefully follows the actions taken by the commissioner for the enhancement of the company and the finalization of the process of sale ”Minister Guerini recalled.
"The new property, regardless of the industrial plan it intends to pursue, will be called upon to guarantee the enhancement of the site, its employment level, as well as the maintenance of technical-engineering support for the aircraft and engines of the Defense administration and the full execution of the contracts existing with the latter.
THE FUTURE PURCHASER OF PIAGGIO AEROSPACE
Finally, the sale of Piaggio Aerospace has reached its final stage.
Commissioner Nicastro identified the subject to negotiate the exclusive sale of the company from Villanova d'Albenga.
This is the Italoscandian consortium, formed, as revealed by La Repubblica, by the Swedish fund Summa Equity (leader) together with three industrial entities operating in the aeronautical sector: the Norwegian Heart Aviation, AgTech (with offices in Genoa and Savona) and Genoese Phase Motion Control (which, among other things, operates in the same building where the old Piaggio Aero headquarters in the Ligurian capital was located).
"But there is no shortage of unknowns" underlines Il Sole 24 Ore . “In fact, in mid-September the exclusive negotiation window for the delivery of the binding offer on Piaggio by the newco closed. The offer, however, has not yet been presented and the commissioner could, therefore, reopen the table with the other potential buyers ”.
THE INCOGNITA ELECTRIFICATION
If the consortium led by Summa were to grab the Piaggio Aerospace, there is also the “electrification” issue at stake.
As the former Aermacchi executive, Paolo Mezzanotte, recalled on Start , the consortium competing for the purchase put "the emphasis on electrification as a qualifying point for the development of a new small regional airplane that is proposed as the future Piaggio's flagship product ”.
The Liguria Region, reports the 19th Century , "in recent months, has asked the government to finance seventy projects for 25.2 billion euros with the funds of the national plan for the Next Generation Eu. the idea of creating a hub for new hybrid and electric aircraft, a proposal presented by a group of companies that are in the running for the acquisition of Piaggio Aerospace ”.
The CEO of the Genoese Phase Motion Control, Marco Venturini, told the Genoese newspaper "that the fact that the companies are competing to acquire Piaggio will allow, in the event the commissioner sells the Ligurian company to their consortium, to develop in that context the project, if instead another consortium wins, she will be able to carry it out, as long as she shares it, or the financing can still go to us, even without Piaggio, and we will use it to grow the Italian industry in Liguria and Italy. electrical aeronautics ".
In this regard, Mezzanotte pointed out that Piaggio Aerospace has tried, in the past, to enter this extremely profitable field, but without success.
However, it is only a hypothesis at the moment: the window of "exclusive negotiation" with the Italoscandinavian consortium has just ended without the binding offer being formalized.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/ecco-come-il-governo-tiene-in-vita-piaggio-aerospace/ on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 14:16:39 +0000.