La compañía refuerza su capacidad industrial en la fabricación de vehículos blindados
Indra has closed a preliminary agreement with Duro Felguera to acquire its heavy boiler factory in Gijón, known as ‘El Tallerón’, for about 3.6 million euros, as confirmed by sources familiar with the operation to Europa Press.
The final agreement will be closed in the «coming days» and includes maintaining employment for the 156 workers at the Asturian plant.
Indra’s intention is to convert the facilities into a production site for armored vehicles and gain its own capabilities in this business segment.
Negotiations between Indra and Duro Felguera for ‘El Tallerón’ began at the end of last May, and the sources consulted have highlighted, beyond the amount of the operation, the importance of maintaining the workforce, especially in a context where the company, which is in pre-bankruptcy proceedings, has announced an employment regulation file (ERE) that will affect, in principle, 699 workers from various companies within the group.
In addition to the 3.6 million euros and the job retention, Indra plans to make a series of investments in the factory to position itself as a strategic company for the defense of Spain and Europe.
The industrial plant covers 75,000 square meters, a space where Indra will set up production and assembly lines for all types of military vehicles, both tracked and wheeled, to consolidate the necessary industrial capabilities to strengthen technological sovereignty and strategic autonomy.
With this operation, Indra aims to make Asturias the hub of its production, assembly, and integration of land platforms.
In this regard, the relationship of this armored vehicle production plant with Tess Defence (a company controlled by Indra and participated in by General Dynamics, Sapa Placencia, and Escribano Mechanical & Engineering) is still to be determined, and it is expected to be defined based on incoming projects.
It is worth noting that Tess Defence is the contractor for various armored vehicle programs for the Spanish Army, such as the 8×8 Dragón or the Vehículo de Apoyo Cadenas (VAC), each valued at around 2 billion euros.
INDRA STRENGTHENS ITS CAPABILITIES
Indra’s President, Ángel Escribano, revealed in a presentation to Congress in mid-March the company’s intention to acquire Duro Felguera’s plant.
In this sense, Indra set the goal of acquiring these facilities after being denied by General Dynamics European Land Systems, the armored vehicle business of the American company in Europe and owner of Santa Bárbara Sistemas, to sell the Santa Bárbara Sistemas factory in Trubia (Asturias).
As part of its strategic plan, Indra is taking a series of measures to grow in the armored vehicle business, and beyond this operation, the company is also bidding to acquire the military vehicle division of the Italian group Iveco (Iveco Defence Vehicles).
This is in addition to the creation of a new subsidiary to manufacture armored vehicles, called Indra Land Vehicles, and the takeover of Tess Defence.
