Finmeccanica’s name change to Leonardo was confirmed on Thursday after as the Italian group’s shareholders’ meeting approved the switch.
Finmeccanica first announced last month the decision in March by management to drop its historic title in favour of Leonardo, after the 15th century artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci.
To help the switch to the new name, the firm said on Thursday it would call itself Leonardo-Finmeccanica until Dec. 31, 2016, before changing to just Leonardo on Jan. 1, 2017.
The gradual change "is aimed at granting the Company a suitable time frame to ensure the required continuity, mainly in relationships with foreign countries," the firm said.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
