Finmeccanica has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Italian tele­communications company Data­mat, subject to approval from competition authorities.

Finmeccanica says it is targeting Datamat, which posted revenues of 171 million ($207 million) in 2004, because of “its significant activities falling in Finmeccanica’s core business”.

Datamat already collaborates with Finmeccanica divisions in logistics and naval consortia and Dataspazio, a space joint-venture with Telespazio.

The group will pay an average price of 10.15 per share for several share packages, making a total of roughly 151 million. Finmeccanica will then launch a takeover bid for the remaining shares at 9.65 per share once the acquisition is completed. If all Datamat shareholders accept the offer, Fin­meccanica will pay a total of 270 million for 100% of Dat­a­­­­­­­­­­mat shares, financed using its own resources.

Finmeccanica plans to develop Datamat’s IT activities in banking, finance, telecoms and healthcare before selling them off.

Source: Flight International

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