The Chinese Duofu Group has acquired the Italian helicopter manufacturer Famà Helicopters. The agreement was signed on Tuesday with a ceremony in Milan and Beijing. The plans of Chinese society, the stakes and the golden power node
China focuses on Italian helicopters. The Chinese Duofu Group has acquired Famà Helicopters, an Italian company based in Castelvetro di Modena specializing in the construction of rotary wing vehicles.
The agreement, celebrated last Tuesday with a ceremony in Beijing, Hangzhou and Milan in the presence of the founder Antonino Famà and the president of Duofu Group Hu Xingrong , provides for the purchase of a wide range of assets of the Italian company, from the production plants from sales and research and development centers to intellectual property rights.
Famà Helicopters is a family-run company founded in 2009, known in the sector for the production of light helicopters, such as the twin-engine Kiss 209M. The company has 92 customers and operates in various European and non-EU countries, from France to Germany to South Africa.
Duofu Group, the website reads, was founded in 2003, has its headquarters in Beijing and Hangzhou and has 30,000 employees. In 2019 it recorded revenues of 175.3 billion Yuan (approximately 25 billion euros), ranking 25th among the top 500 Chinese private companies. According to the president of the Duofu Aviation division, Liao Yunwu , the purchase of Famà Helicopter will serve to reduce "the gap between the Chinese general aviation industry and the advanced capabilities of developers abroad" and will facilitate "economic development and international dialogue ".
The purchase is reported by the Global Times , the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, according to which Duofu Aviation aims to invest 5 billion yuan (717 million euros) to "gradually form a complete industrial chain in aviation that includes research and development, sales and operations to form industrial blocks including aircraft training, the insurance industry, aircraft leasing ”.
According to data from the Chinese Research Center for the Development of the Aviation Industry, the party newspaper adds, by 2027 China will have a fleet of more than 3,500 civilian helicopters with a market value of 14.4 billion dollars. Thanks to the acquisition of the Italian company, according to China.org, Duofu Group "will reduce the gap between China's general aviation industry and the advanced capabilities of foreign developers".
Following the operation, the Chinese group "will establish research and development centers on European helicopters and engines and will work on more advanced turboshaft engines, electric helicopters, twin-engine helicopters". At the moment, the Italian government has not commented on the acquisition.
In recent months, Palazzo Chigi has intervened using golden power to stop investments by Chinese companies in Italian sectors with a high technological level and in products with a potential dual-use application.
This is the case of Alpi Aviation , the Friulian company that produces drones that has come under the crosshairs of the Chinese Mars Information Technology Co in Hong Kong. More recently, the government blocked the operation that would have allowed the Chinese Efort Intelligence Equipment to increase its stake in Robox, a Novara company specializing in robotics, from 40 to 49%.
Source: Di Francesco Bechis | 30/06/2022 - formiche.net
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