What does the German Tkms wanted by Fincantieri do
Fincantieri CEO Pierroberto Folgiero renews his interest in the German ThyssenKrupp Marine System (Tkms), in view of the spin-off of the naval and submarine business by the German giant
Fincantieri targets Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (Tkms) submarines.
Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of the Trieste naval group has renewed interest in Tkms, a company for which Germany is studying how to valorise it.
“We have been their commercial partner for 25 years and we have developed a hydrogen submarine” observed Fincantieri's number one on the sidelines of the “Downside up” event. The future of Underwater”, organized on November 27 by the shipbuilding group.
Teutonic giant ThyssenKrupp is currently exploring options for Tkms, which builds submarines and frigates, with scenarios ranging from a possible spin-off to a joint venture with a rival, as reported in the press this summer. Already then Folgiero had taken advantage of an interview with the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung to express Fincantieri's interest "in closer collaboration with its partner Thyssenkrupp".
According to Reuters sources, possible industrial partners for Tkms are the Dutch Damen group and the Swedish Saab, but several private equity groups, including Carlyle, have also shown interest. Among these is also Fincantieri, which has reaffirmed its interest in collaborating with Thyssenkrupp.
If the precise details of these potential partnerships remain unknown to date, the words of CEO Folgiero reflect an already manifested strategy of Fincantieri towards the search for collaborations and the pursuit of the necessary consolidation of the European defense industry that the previous CEO of the group already , Giuseppe Bono, had been supporting for some time.
In fact, in the past the Trieste company had already shown interest in the naval branch of the German group to create a production hub focused on naval ships and submarines. On the other hand, today Fincantieri aims to be "the locomotive of this new supply chain" in the underwater sector.
All the details.
FOLGIERO REITERATES HIS INTEREST IN THE GERMAN TKMS
“The world of international defense demands naval military spending and the submarine product is attracting great interest,” Pierroberto Folgiero explained yesterday. “We are available and ready to develop this market together with the historic partner ThyssenKrupp Marine System on a commercial basis, on an industrial basis and with any other structure that is functional to the development and strengthening strategies of Germany”.
To those who ask him if the Germans have clarified the terms of the alliance to be strengthened, Folgiero replies: "They are studying the strategy for valorising and positioning ThysenKrupp Marine System which has an excellent product, great market opportunities, and we are available to make ourselves available in various capacities and be instrumental to their strategy".
THE CONSOLIDATED REPORT FOR THE SUBMARINES OF THE ITALIAN NAVY
On the other hand, Tkms has a consolidated relationship with Fincantieri. The latter has already built four submarines of the U-212 A type for the Italian Navy under German license within a program started in 1994 within the German Submarine Consortium.
OLD RUMORS ON THE FINCANTIERI AND TKMS JV
In recent years, Thyssenkupp has explored a full or partial takeover of Tkms with major European shipbuilders, but without success.
Already in May 2020 , Reuters revealed that Thyssenkrupp was exploring several strategic options for Tkms . According to the press agency, the German group was evaluating the creation of a national champion with other German groups in the sector or an integration with the activities of the Italian Fincantieri.
According to Reuters , the deal was about starting a 50-50 joint venture in order to create a European champion with combined sales of 3.4 billion euros. In that scenario Fincantieri would have contributed its defense activities for a turnover of 1.5 billion euros in 2019.
But nothing has happened since then.
TKMS NUMBERS
As the Financial Times recalled last spring, the Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems division, which includes the group's shipyards in Kiel, northern Germany, acquired a shipyard in Wismar in 2022 in anticipation of further submarine orders from the German government. In 2021 the group was awarded a 5.5 billion euro contract for the delivery of four ships to Norway and two to Germany. In 2022, Tkms generated 1.8 billion euros in sales and 32 million euros in adjusted profits.
At the beginning of 2022, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems was valued at 1-2 billion euros. For Banca Akros, an acquisition would imply a capital increase for Fincantieri with a probable negative impact on the share price, MF reported last year .
THE UNDERWATER AIMS OF FINCANTIERI
With Tkms, Fincantieri could strengthen itself in the submarine sector to become a leader in the underwater sector as already outlined in its future strategy.
Fincantieri wants to be "the locomotive of this new supply chain" in the underwater sector which will be made up "of institutions but also of non-institutional customers, that is, of all the companies involved in this domain not only from a military but also a civil perspective" it had already illustrated by Fincantieri's number one Pierroberto Folgiero speaking to analysts on the occasion of the presentation of the quarterly accounts with reference to the new memorandum of understanding signed with Leonardo for collaboration in the underwater sector.
“The memorandum with Leonardo indicates the intention to create a stable task force to pool the skills we have in the underwater sector guided mainly by the knowledge that Fincantieri has in submarines” continued Folgiero, underlining that the “new underwater domain” is not made up "of just one element, but it is an ecosystem that also includes electronics and telecommunications" and which has a third important entity in the Navy.
And yesterday, on the occasion of the conference on diving, Folgiero highlighted that in submarines "we are almost at technological independence".
The CEO of Fincantieri explained that "hydrogen is managed in navy submarines with storage systems", as an example of advanced technologies. “Italy's wealth of skills – he continued – is found in acoustics, communications, drones and the critical infrastructures that will be in the seabed”. “It's about creating a strong and credible player to occupy this space with a world also made up of small and medium-sized enterprises – concluded Fincantieri's number one – a civil and military world where the Navy will validate the technologies”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/cosa-fa-la-tedesca-tkms-voluta-da-fincantieri/ on Tue, 28 Nov 2023 15:46:05 +0000.