Leonardo S.p.A.

1948: The year of foundation

The company was established in 1948 as a subholding for mechanical industry of state owned IRI. Finmeccanica has held for years some historic Italian enterprises, such as Alfa Romeo (automobile), Aeritalia (aerospace) and Ansaldo (engineering). From 1960s to 1980s Italy's defence and aerospace industry was split in different state-holding entities: so EFIM owned the helicopters manufacturer Agusta, the defence company Oto Melara and the electronic enterprise Officine Galileo, whereas STET (another IRI subsidiary) held Selenia, Elsag and SGS Thomson, all electronic enterprises with specializations in security and defense. In 1989 an internal IRI reorganization process brought STET electronic enterprises to Finmeccanica, that from Aeritalia-Selenia merger made up its aerospace subsidiary Alenia.

The 90s

In 1992 EFIM wound up because of troubled financial situation; so Agusta, Oto Melara, Officine Galileo and Breda passed to Finmeccanica, which became one of the most important Italian industrial groups. Finmeccanica, which was previously fully state owned by IRI, went under a privatization process in 1993, when it was listed in Milan Borsa Italiana.

In 1992 Finmeccanica's Agusta became a 32% partner in NHIndustries, the prime contractor for NH90 helicopter, along with Eurocopter (62.5%) and Fokker (5.5%).

Early 2000s

In July 2000 Finmeccanica and the British GKN agreed to merge their respective helicopter subsidiaries (Agusta and GKN-Westland Helicopters) to form AgustaWestland. In December 2001 the missile business of Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS), a joint Finmeccanica/BAE Systems company, was merged with other European missile manufacturers to form MBDA which thus became the world's second largest missile manufacturer. In July 2003 Finmeccanica and BAE Systems announced their intention to set up three joint venture companies, to be collectively known as Eurosystems. These companies would have pooled the avionics, C4ISTAR and communications businesses of the two companies. In March 2007 BAE Systems sold its 25% share to Finmeccanica for €400 million. In January 2013 the company merged with Finmeccanica's other defence electronics companies, SELEX Elsag and SELEX Sistemi Integrati, to become Selex ES. In May 2008 Finmeccanica announced its intention to purchase the U.S. defense contractor DRS Technologies for nearly $5.2 billion. On 22 October 2008 the sale of DRS Technologies was finalized.

2011–2013

During 2011–2013, Finmeccanica emails were published by WikiLeaks and Finmeccanica was subject to judicial inquiries on several fronts and management changes.

According to Finmeccanica emails published in the Syria Files release by WikiLeaks on 5 July 2012, Finmeccanica increased its sale of mobile communications equipment to Syrian authorities during 2011, delivering 500 of these to the Damascus suburb Muadamia in May 2011, after the Syrian uprising had started, and sending engineers to Damascus in February 2012 to provide training in using the communications equipment in helicopter terminals, while the uprising continued. Finmeccanica stated that the equipment sales were legal, they occurred "before the outbreak of conflict inside Syria", and the equipment "was designed for use by emergency responders" for civilian use only.

On 12 February 2013, the chief executive, Giuseppe Orsi, was arrested on corruption charges. Prosecutors alleged that he paid bribes to ensure the sale of 12 helicopters to the Indian government, when he was head of the group's AgustaWestland unit.

In July 2013, the Letta government appointed former police chief Giovanni De Gennaro as Chairman of Finmeccanica. In December 2013 Finmeccanica sold 39.55% of its share capital in Ansaldo Energia to Fondo Strategico Italiano. The remaining 15% of Finmeccanica's share will be sold by December 31, 2017.

2014-2016

In the first half of 2014, Finmeccanica's new Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Mauro Moretti started a process of profound change for the Group, both in terms of strategic choices and organizational structure. The goal was to create a more cohesive and efficient group in which all processes (research, marketing and sales, engineering, procurement, strategies and governance) are centralized and integrated and can interact more effectively. This encompasses the 100% owned companies of the core aerospace and defence business (AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi, Oto Melara, Selex ES and WASS) being transformed into seven new Finmeccanica divisions. The current holding company will then become an operating company based on seven major business areas, maintaining its parent company and corporate centre function for the Group companies excluded from the model (DRS Technologies, Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space, MBDA and ATR). At the end of 2014, Finmeccanica transferred its stake in BredaMenarinibus to the newco Industria Italiana Autobus (20% Finmeccanica and 80% King Long), thereby taking a further step in the Group's portfolio rationalization process.

In 2015 Hitachi signed a binding agreement with Finmeccanica for Hitachi's acquisition of the AnsaldoBreda business, excluding some revamping activities and residual contracts, and of the entire Finmeccanica stake in the share capital of Ansaldo STS, approximately 40% of the total capital. FATA, another subsidiary of the Finmeccanica Group since 2004 that was not part of the core business, was sold in 2015 to the Gruppo Danieli, dealing in the production of steel plants.

On 1 January 2016, Finmeccanica become a single integrated industrial entity that have absorbed the activities of AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi, Selex ES, OTO Melara and WASS.

From Finmeccanica to Leonardo

The company rebranding operation, led by Mauro Moretti, began in March 2016, with the proposal to change the company name, as of 1 January 2017, made by the Board of Directors at the shareholders meeting. With shareholder approval of the new company name on 28 April 2016, Finmeccanica officially became Leonardo from 1 January 2017 (Leonardo-Finmeccanica until 31 December 2016), a name inspired by the Italian scientist Leonardo da Vinci.

Organization

Subsidiaries

Joint ventures

Others

Shareholder structure

As of 13 March 2016 Leonardo-Finmeccanica's largest shareholder was Italian Ministry of Economy and Finances with 30.20%. Other declared shareholdings at this date were Norges Bank (2.03%) and Libyan Investment Authority (2.01%). and the Vanguard Group (1,30%).

Key budget items (2007–2015)

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