UPDATE 1-Italy intervenes on Eurofighter, sees deal in weeks * Finmeccanica sees Eurofighter deal in 3-4 weeks
* Berlusconi, Zapatero intervene to support deal, exec says
(Recasts with new comments)
ROME, April 29 (Reuters) - Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI), the Italian defence firm involved in the Eurofighter combat jets project, expects a deal to secure the third round of production within a month despite British opposition, a top executive said.
Four nations -- Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany -- were near a deal this month to order a total of 112 jets for more than $10 billion but Britain has blocked the deal because of a lack of money, sources earlier told Reuters. [ID:nLO619441]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has phoned Britain's prime minister to persuade him to lift the veto, the sources said. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusoni and his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero have followed suit and intervened to support the project, Finmeccanica Chief Operating Officer Giorgio Zappa said, without providing details.
"The governments are moving," Zappa told reporters. "We're hopeful. We're activating all the channels to ensure orders for the third tranche proceed."
Finmeccanica expects a deal with a solution that satisfies the concerns of both Britain and the other three countries in the next three to four weeks, CFO Alessandro Pansa told Reuters on the sidelines of the company's shareholder meeting.
He earlier told analysts on a conference call that top Italian officials including those in the prime minister's office, the treasury, and the foreign ministry were all holding talks to ensure the deal goes ahead.
Finmeccanica -- in which the Italian state holds a 30.2 percent stake -- is one of the jet's manufacturers, alongside Britain's BAE Systems and EADS for Germany and Spain. They have warned production lines could close with the loss of thousands of jobs from 2012 without a deal, due to industrial lead times. (Reporting by Deepa Babington; Editing by Dan Lalor and Mike Nesbit)
Source
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLT11937620090429
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