AvioItaly”s space propulsion company Avio, a ten-year-old investment of UK buyout house Cinven, is reportedly planning to go public by October this year (see AltaAssets). Banca Imi and Citigroup are the advisor. In mid-August 2015 Bebeez reported that Avio, which is controlled by private equity firm Cinven (81%) and partecipated by Italian state-controlled defense conglomerate Finmeccanica (14%) and its managers. is considering an initial public offering on the Italian stock market and has kicked off a beauty contest to find the banks to help Avio list on the Milan bourse. The Group has long standing experience in the design, development and manufacture of solid- and liquid-propellant propulsion systems for space launch vehicles. Avio produces the two boosters and the liquid-oxygen turbopump of the Vulcain cryogenic engine of Ariane 5 (equal to a manufacturing portion of 14 percent), the satellite launcher that operates from the European Space Centre in the French Guiana.
Avio is also full systems integrator through the Vega launcher, of which the subsidiary ELV (70 percent owned by Avio, 30 percent by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) is prime contractor and which started its activities in the French Guiana in 2012.
In the domain of satellites, Avio designs, integrates and tests single and dual propellant and cold gas subsystems. It has supplied to ESA and ASI propulsion subsystems for the launch into orbit and control of several satellites including EURECA, OLYMPUS, ITALSAT 1 & 2, SAX, COLLEGATO 1 & 2, XMM, INTEGRAL and SICRAL.
