Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 4, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on Google
Iveco's defence unit anticipates a surge in orders from the EU's SAFE programme, boosting production and enhancing synergy with Leonardo.
ROME, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The defence business of truck-maker Iveco sees an acceleration in its orders in the short term, pushed by the European Union's Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme, the head of the unit said on Thursday.
"The upcoming launch of the SAFE programme could generate a non-linearity in our order intake and require us to be able to significantly accelerate our production," Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV) CEO Claudio Catalano said at a defence conference hosted by financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore in Rome.
The SAFE scheme is a joint borrowing scheme, backed by the EU budget to boost the bloc's defence capabilities, address any gaps, and buy defence products to prepare for any threat of military aggression from Russia or Belarus.
Catalano said that IDV, which is being sold by Iveco to state-controlled aerospace and defence group Leonardo, looked at this growth with both enthusiasm and apprehension "because we know that we must be ready to respond to the needs of our European allies", pushing the group's production capacity.
He added that the group was investing heavily in its production sites, in the cities of Bolzano and Piacenza, and had set up a division dedicated to propulsion engines for defence in Turin.
Asked about synergies with Leonardo, Catalano said that the deal would allow "a rounder and better offer for clients".
The deal, which gives the business an enterprise value of 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.($1 = 0.8566 euros)
(Reporting by Giulia SegretiEditing by Keith Weir)
The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme is an EU initiative aimed at enhancing the bloc's defense capabilities through joint borrowing and investment in defense products.
Enterprise value is a measure of a company's total value, often used as a comprehensive alternative to market capitalization, calculated as market cap plus debt, minus cash and cash equivalents.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
