Patria announced on 13 June 2024 that it has signed a bill of sale to acquire the entire share capital of Nordic Drones: a leading Finnish unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilot trainer that also manufactures UAV designed for professional use.
Nordic Drones has designed and delivered complete solutions and user training for various technical aerial photography, mapping, measurement, inspection, control and authority tasks for more than 100 companies and organisations.
The company employs 10 people and is located in Muurame, Finland. The parties do not disclose the value of the acquisition.
Patria says its growth strategy “requires significant investments in product development, innovations and partnerships” adding that “What Patria offers also in the field of unmanned system solutions is constantly being developed.”
“Integrating the capabilities of unmanned systems into the defence system is a prerequisite when preparing for today’s threats of battlefield,” Jussi Järvinen, executive vice president of Patria’s Finland Division, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “Patria’s strong development and research expertise as well as experience in autonomous systems, indirect fire systems and system integrations make our company a leading player in the field.
“Nordic Drones’ expertise in manufacturing professional drone systems for numerous customers is an excellent and logical reinforcement of Patria’s unmanned aerial systems (UAS) offering, which benefits our mutual and new customers in Finland and internationally, across all operating environments,” Järvinen added.
Nordic Drones has been developing quadcopter UAVs for over 10 years and has achieved a significant position as a partner to the Nordic security authorities. “We have succeeded in developing internationally unique product systems with huge market potential,” said Pietari Sorri, the company’s managing director. “We believe that Patria is the best partner to speed up our internationalisation. In the future we will also be able to offer even wider and more interesting solutions to our customers together with Patria.”
Patria’s acquisition of Nordic Drones requires the approval of the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy (TEM): a process that already started. If the acquisition takes place, it will not affect the company’s customer commitments, employment relationships or other commitments made by the company. The length of the official approval process is dependent on the TEM, according to Patria.
