Alenia Marconi Systems
Alenia Marconi Systems was a major European integrated defence electronics company and an equal shares joint venture between BAE Systems and Finmeccanica until its dissolution on 3 May 2005.
AMS was formed in 1998 by the merger of GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems and Alenia Difesa. Equal shares in the resulting company were then held by Finmeccanica, and GEC-Marconi, a division of The General Electric Company.
With the demerger and subsequent sale of its MES division in 1999, GEC's interest in AMS passed to BAE Systems.
In 2001 AMS' missile systems division was merged with Aerospatiale Matra Missiles and Matra BAe Dynamics to form MBDA.
On 7 October 2003 the UK holding company for AMS changed its registered name from Alenia Marconi Systems Limited to AMS Limited to comply with the agreements reached regarding use of the name "Marconi" following the sale of Marconi Electronic Systems by GEC. This name change was reflected in rebranding across the company, although the Italian holding company retained the name Alenia Marconi Systems SpA.
On 28 January 2005 BAE Systems and Finmeccanica announced the intention to dissolve their partnership in the AMS joint venture with AMS' UK and Italian operations taken over by the respective partners as arranged through the Eurosystems Transaction. On 3 May 2005 the Eurosystems Transaction was finalised:
