Thales/Finmeccanica Franco-Italian cuisine

All the ingredients for a tie-up between France’s Thales and Italy’s Finmeccanica seem to be falling into place. The Italian and French governments, the defence groups’ largest shareholders, are in favour. Dassault, which owns 6% of Thales, wants to sell its stake. And the Italian government is interested in buying. But will the resulting dish be a tasty coq au vin or a dog’s dinner? There would certainly be some industrial benefits to a tie-up between the two groups. Both have profitable and r...