UAE Ups Its Stake in Drone-maker Piaggio Aero | Defense News | defensenews.com

UAE Ups Its Stake in Drone-maker Piaggio Aero | Defense News | defensenews.com:

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The Piaggio Aero P.1HH Hammerhead UAV — an unmanned version of the P.180 twin-propeller business aircraft — was unveiled this summer at the Paris Air Show. (Piaggio Aero)

A United Arab Emirates (UAE) investment fund has beefed up its stake in Italy-based Piaggio Aero, just as the aeronautics firm gets ready for the debut flight of its P.1HH Hammerhead drone, scheduled to take place within days at Sicily’s Trapani Air Base.

Mubadala, the US $55 billion fund set up by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 2002, increased its stake in Piaggio Aero from 33 to 41 percent on Nov. 12, as part of an equity increase of €190 million (US $255 million), which also saw Tata Ltd., a UK offshoot of India’s Tata Group, increase its stake from 33 to 44.5 percent.

Italian private investor Piero Ferrari has increased his stake from 1 to 2 percent, while hedge fund HDI has dropped from 33 to 12.5 percent.

That means Mubadala and Tata are now the main financial backers of development of the Italian-built Hammerhead, which is an unmanned version of Piaggio Aero’s main seller, the P.180 twin-prop business aircraft."

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