«With the acquisition of Thales Gts, the Hitachi website in Genoa becomes central»

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Major maneuvers in the international railway business. Hitachi Rail, one of many major global rail car manufacturers (along with Frecciarossa 1000 for Trenitalia), is broadcasting its €1.66 billion acquisition of Thales Gts (Ground Transportation System), the railway signaling division of the Thales group, a company listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. 93% of the financing is fair and the remaining 7% is from shareholder mortgages. With this operation, the Japanese multinational company, which boasts strong industrial roots in Italy, expands its international presence to 51 countries, with the vast majority of revenues now coming from signaling activities, with increased profitability. With the entry of Thales GTS, Hitachi Rail’s turnover suddenly increased from 5.2 to 7.3 billion euros. The acquisition covers 54 companies and 9,000 people, including 6,000 engineers, who become part of the Hitachi Rail group, thus increasing the entire range of employees to 24,000 worldwide, including Italy. The closure, announced on the night of Friday, May 31, is taking place under the leadership of the Group’s CEO Giuseppe Marino. And in the same hours as the closing, Marino was named a Knight of Labor by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

Engineer Marino, what is the strategic importance of this operation?

The dominant information is the complementarity of markets and goods between Hitachi and GTS. A feature that will even provide the necessary improvement alternatives to the Italian companies of the Hitachi group. Thanks to this acquisition, Hitachi Rail’s capillarity will develop around the world, which will support the group’s entry into new key markets. Hitachi Rail’s flagship areas in Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States strategically complement GTS’ core areas in Germany, France, Spain and Canada.

What position will Italy take in this situation?

In terms of signaling, in the row at the entrance is the Genoa website, which is Hitachi Rail’s hub for rail signaling and serves over 550 people. Genoa could take a central position in the integration process. In the future, the Ligurian website will be an international hub for events related to the group’s digital activities. This feature will enable Italy to take the number one position in this section and within the integration of GTS high-tech companies. The Ligurian website is already starting the technique of integration into the global community, which provides for cooperation on a secure basis with our American headquarters of Hitachi Digital in Santa Clara, in Silicon Valley (California).