Ukrainian manufacturer and developer of long-range FP-1 drones, FP-5 cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles Fire Point is allegedly targeted for purchase by defense conglomerate EDGE from the United Arab Emirates. The potential deal concerns a 30% stake in the company valued at $760 million, with Fire Point's total valuation at $2.5 billion.
This information based on company sources was published by BBC's Ukrainian branch. The company has reportedly already submitted documents to the antimonopoly committee. Defense Express notes that announcement of such a sale was made by company leadership during a press conference held at the end of November.
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Then it was announced that an unnamed sovereign fund from an undisclosed country wished to acquire part of Fire Point. It was noted that this country has very low bureaucratic burden on developing missile technologies, including launching missiles themselves and weapons production. Moreover, very cheap electricity and gas needed for production are available there.
EDGE from UAE actually meets some of these criteria. Although the company itself doesn't belong to any sovereign fund but is simply state-owned, this doesn't cancel the possibility of conducting a deal through such a fund. But UAE has very minimal regulation of defense companies with virtually total state control over them, and undoubtedly has enormous gas reserves (fifth in the world) and cheap electricity. Also worth adding: EDGE truly conducts active acquisition of defense companies worldwide, including Europe. For example, the company acquired Estonian UGV manufacturer Milrem Robotics, Swiss UAV manufacturer ANAVIA, and Brazilian missile manufacturer SIATT.
Additionally, the company created joint ventures with Anduril and Leonardo. And for a company with 2024 annual revenue of $4.9 billion backed by UAE, purchasing Fire Point truly looks like a possible decision. Especially since there aren't many private companies on the global market that can offer mass-produced cheap long-range drones whose effectiveness is proven against russia, cruise missiles with 3,000km flight range carrying 1-ton warheads, plus ballistic missile development.
However, at the press conference over a month ago, Fire Point announced they hoped the deal would close within the following week. Which evidently didn't happen, or wasn't announced at all. Also, such things are usually announced publicly and officially. But this hasn't been done yet.
Therefore, the option remains that the real potential buyer of Fire Points stake has now decided to haggle by slowing the deal. And such an insider leak is a pressure mechanism to accelerate it.
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