Finmeccanica Finmeccanica S . p . A . is the leading industrial group in the high technology sector in Italy and one of the main global players in aerospace , defence and security . It operates in seven sectors : aeronautics , helicopters , space , electronics , defence systems , energy , transportation and construction . The company has offices in over 100 countries . It is partially owned by the Italian government , which holds about 30 % of Finmeccanica ' s shares . History . 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 , as Alfa Romeo , Aeritalia and Ansaldo ; Finmeccanica presence in aerospace field was restricted to Aeritalia , the biggest airplane manufacturer of Italy . 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 . 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 % ) . In July 2000 Finmeccanica and the British GKN plc agreed to merge their respective helicopter subsidiaries ( Agusta and GKN - Westland Helicopters ) to form AgustaWestland . On May 26 , 2004 GKN confirmed that it would sell its share to its Finmeccanica for £1 . 06 billion . 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 . However the difficulties of integrating the companies in this way led to a re - evaluation of the proposal ; BAE ' s 2004 Annual Report states that " recognizing the complexity of the earlier proposed Eurosystems transaction with Finmeccanica we have moved to a simpler model " . The main part of this deal was the dissolution of AMS and the establishment of SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems . In late March 2007 BAE Systems sold its 25 % share of SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems to Finmeccanica for €400 million ( approx . £270 million c . 2007 ) . Following a merger with Galileo Avionica S . p . A . ( another Finmeccanica company ) in January 2008 , SELEX S & AS became SELEX Galileo . 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 October 22 , 2008 , the sale of DRS Technologies was finalized . In 2011 the company faced accusations that it had created slush funds with which to bribe politicians and chairman Pier Francesco Guarguaglini came under investigation . He denied any wrongdoing but , following pressure from Prime Minister Mario Monti , he stepped down from his post on 1 December receiving a golden handshake of 4 million Euros . 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 . It was reported on 12 February 2013 that the chief executive , Giuseppe Orsi , was arrested on corruption charges . Prosecutors allege he paid bribes to ensure the sale of 12 helicopters to the Indian government , when he was head of the group ' s AgustaWestland unit . On 13 February 2013 Finmeccanica ’ s Board of Directors named Mr Alessandro Pansa chief executive officer and resolves to confer the role of vice chairman to Admiral Guido Venturoni . Shortly after Pansa ' s appointment , Italian investigators discovered a case of bribery by Finmeccanica in its deal with India following which the government of India issued a show cause notice to the company . In July 2013 , Finmeccanica shareholders approved Giovanni De Gennaro , Italy ' s former police chief , as chairman of the group . In October that year , Finmeccanica reached a deal to sell a majority stake in power engineering company Ansaldo Energia to state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti .