Emirati defense conglomerate EDGE Group has entered a joint venture (JV) today with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, worth up to €30 billion ($32 billion), putting the Middle East industry giant on track to produce Fincantieri’s vessels in Abu Dhabi for non-NATO countries.
Holding a 51 percent stake in the JV, EDGE will contribute to the new alliance with “subsystems, G2G [government to government], commercial pipeline and financing for large deals,” an EDGE Group spokesperson told Breaking Defense. Fincantieri will provide management and guidance, according to the firm’s statement.
“The Abu Dhabi-based JV will be awarded prime rights to non-NATO orders, especially leveraging on the attractiveness of UAE G2G arrangements and export credit financing packages, along with a number of strategic orders placed by select NATO member countries,” EDGE Group said in a statement.
The EDGE Group spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the JV will also cooperate with “some NATO strategic countries.”
In 2023, EDGE Group signed a deal with the Angolan Navy worth €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to build Angola’s fleet of 71-meter corvettes in Abu Dhabi Ship Building shipyards. Previously, the Emirati conglomerate had only one shipbuilding firm, Abu Dhabi Ship Building, but the partnership with Fincantieri constitutes a large leap in its naval development programs and ambitions.
