Mubadala Aerospace, an entity owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, has taken full control of Italy’s Piaggio Aero, maker of the Avanti II turboprop. Mubadala has been a shareholder in Piaggio Aero since 2006.
The move follows a broad-based restructuring of Piaggio Aero last year during which sales of the Avanti II flatlined. As part of the restructuring, India’s Tata Industries will relinquish its partnership stake in Piaggio, giving Mubadala control of 98 percent of the company’s stock. Piero Ferrari, who had been a major shareholder and had served as chairman of Piaggio, will retain 1.9-percent ownership.
Carlo Logli, the former CEO of SuperJet International who was recently brought in to reorganize Piaggio, is the company’s new CEO. Logli’s plan calls for the company to diversify into more component manufacture, engine assembly and support and other activities–a business mix in line with Mubadala Aerospace’s current activities and diversified holdings. It remains unclear if this latest move will affect Piaggio’s long-promised improvements to the Avanti II or the business jet the company is thought to be developing.