Attendees view a military vehicle displayed at the SIATT booth during the Latin American Aerospace & Defense (LAAD) conference and exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, April 14, 2023. The expo brings together manufacturers and suppliers of technology for the armed forces, police, special forces, as well as executives of the private defense industry and government agencies. Photographer: Maria Magdalena Arrellaga/Bloomberg via Getty Images
BEIRUT — As a high-level delegation from the United Arab Emirate’s EDGE Group tours Brazil, the defense conglomerate claimed a new prize: a half stake in Brazil’s SIATT smart weapons firm.
EDGE announced today it bought half the shares of SIATT, marking the latest move by EDGE, comprising more than 25 UAE defense subsidiaries, in its aggressive expansion into the Brazilian and Latin American market, which was the subject of a recent Breaking Defense in-depth report.
“EDGE is committed to collaborating with strategically important industry players in Brazil, through investments or partnerships, in order to develop advanced defence capabilities and other related technologies,” EDGE managing director and CEO Mansour AlMulla said in a statement.
In addition to AlMulla, the EDGE delegation consisted of the chairman Faisal Al Bannai and other senior leadership. The contingent visited the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday and signed the 50 percent stake acquisition deal of SIATT at its headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos today.
AlMulla said that as part of Edge’s Latin America development roadmap, particularly in the Brazilian market, “We are embarking on the development and manufacture of the next generation of high-performance and price-competitive smart weapons and solutions. Together with SIATT, we aim to become relevant market players in high-tech defence systems.”
EDGE already had some relationship with SIATT, as in April the Emirati organization signed a co-development agreement with the Brazilian Navy “for advanced long-range anti-ship missile technology, as part of the MANSUP national anti-ship missile project, for which SIATT is providing the guidance, navigation, control and telemetry systems,” according to the firm’s statement.
SIATT CEO Rogerio Salvador said about the investment today, “It will enable us to benefit from EDGE’s scale and international multi-domain experience to jointly develop the next generation of smart weapons solutions for our respective Armed Forces, and other defence customers. SIATT, as a Brazilian Strategic Defence Company… remains fully committed to contribute to national sovereignty.”
EDGE previously has bought majority stakes in the Estonian firm Milrem Robotics, and acquired UAE companies like cybersecurity specialist Oryxlabs, security firm Etimad Holding and KATIM for secure communications.
Back in February, Almulla told Breaking Defense in an interview that the firm is always open to investments globally. “We’re not going to [be] very aggressive in terms of acquisitions, but we will be looking at those very kind of ‘sweet spots’ when it comes to supporting our development program,” AlMulla said then.
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