Above the main door, the sign still displays Ultra I&C. However, we are indeed at the headquarters of a historic Canadian company, Marconi Technologies. “Don’t pay attention to the labels, whether on the door or on certain products. Today, we are resolutely Canadian,” assures the company’s president and CEO, Alain Cohen.
Barely two months ago, the defense company Marconi Technologies still belonged to the American investment fund Advent. In May, it returned to the Canadian flag and took over the name of its founder, Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio telegraph, who had established the Canadian Marconi Company in 1903 in Montreal.
This return to the fold came a few weeks before the announcement of excellent news for the company. Monday, on the first day of the G7 summit, Marconi Technologies found itself in the spotlight. The company has in fact become the first Canadian company to benefit from a defense contract with Europe. As part of the Action for Security in Europe (SAFE) programme, it won a 10 million contract to supply tactical radios to the Polish army.
Duty visited its facilities in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent.
Become Canadian again
Née au début du XXe century and specialized in the field of telecommunications, Marconi has largely abandoned the civilian market for that of defense since the Second World War. The Montreal company, whose turnover exceeds 100 million US dollars, today directs almost 80% of its production to armies around the world and exports around 95% of what it manufactures.
“It’s so rare to take an already mature company, which is an exporter, and bring it back under Canadian control. We are very proud and we want to become a national flagship,” explains its CEO, Alain Cohen.
Often, it is Canadian companies that are swallowed up by their American counterparts. Not here.
The idea of repatriating the parent company to Canadian soil is not new, according to Alain Cohen. Several of the 300 employees, some of whom are veterans, “have wanted to become Marconi again for a very long time,” says Mr. Cohen. Some of them were hired before the 2000s, when the sign on the door still said Canadian Marconi Company. “The dream has always been to become a Canadian company again, independent and autonomous,” adds Mr. Cohen.
Then the opportunity presented itself. It was the investor and former president of the National Bank Louis Vachon who seized it. “We knew that [Ultra I&C] was going to put the company back on the market and that he was going to see a window of opportunity, but you had to be ready,” explains the man who is today chairman of the board of directors of Marconi Technologies.
« Et on l’a été », répond en souriant Alain Cohen.
The current trend towards industrial sovereignty has also helped to motivate other Canadian investors to regain possession of this company whose value is highly strategic, explain Messrs. Cohen and Vachon.
“Today, we can no longer be too dependent on foreign suppliers. There must be Canadian firms based here that are capable of producing part of our military production now,” says Mr. Vachon, reiterating the need to be “self-dependent” due to “our more complex relationship with the United States.” “.
The federal government as an ally
The idea of protecting oneself in the face of American disengagement is not only popular in Canada, it is also popular in Europe, as embodied by the SAFE program where Marconi Technologies has carved out a niche for itself with its tactical radio offering.
It should still be noted that Marconi had been courting Poland for four years, his CEO visiting it a few times a year. However, Canada’s inclusion in the SAFE agreement “badly accelerated the process,” explains Alain Cohen.
The strong signal sent by Prime Minister Mark Carney to the Canadian defense industry also changes the situation, he said. Mr. Carney’s promises to increase the proportion of gross domestic product spent on defense with the aim of bringing it to 5% in 2035 would have given new life to the industry, continues Mr. Cohen. They embody a real paradigm shift in the relationship between the industry and the federal government, according to Louis Vachon, after “decades of chronic underinvestment” in the sector.
“Historically, the attachés [du ministère de la Défense] were not there to market Canada’s defense industry. I think their mission has clearly changed over the last 12 to 18 months,” he believes.
Alain Cohen agrees. For multimillion-dollar contracts, “you need the support of your government to talk to other countries,” he says.
Marconi Technologies therefore aims to continue its current projects – United Kingdom, Spain, France, Poland, Ukraine – and even to expand its horizons in Europe, propelled in particular by the SAFE initiative, but also by the favors of the Carney government, says its CEO “We intend to do much more in Europe: in Germany, in Italy, in particular. We are very confident [d'obtenir] other contracts. »
