Leonardo Launches 2025–2027 Employee Share Ownership Plan

Leonardo has implemented the “2025–2027 Employee Share Ownership Incentive Plan” for its employees, which was approved by the company’s shareholders’ meeting held on 26 May 2025. The plan will apply not only in Italy but also in the UK, Poland, and the USA.

Bird & Bird acted as legal advisor to Leonardo. The team was led by partners Federico Del Monte and Federico Valle, who, along with associate Paride Bordoni, handled the technical aspects as well as the coordination of Bird & Bird’s teams in the UK (led by partner Sarah Ferguson, with senior associates Laura O’Flynn and David Walder) and Poland (with a team comprising partner Ludomir Biedecki, senior associate Wojciech Nowosad, and counsel Michal Olszewski).

U.S. legal matters were handled by Harter Secrest and Emery LLP, with partner Christopher Potash.

The structuring of the plan also involved Leonardo’s HR, legal, finance, tax, communication, and brand identity teams across all relevant countries, as well as external advisors from Mercer (with a team composed of CEO Marco Morelli, partner Sara Bottaro, and principal Elena Stasi) and STS Deloitte (with a team including partner Giuseppe Marianetti and director Davide Tarantino), who provided strategic/financial and tax support respectively to ensure a consistent and harmonized implementation of the plan across the different legal and cultural contexts.