Leonardo chair rows back on Fincantieri merger comments

MILAN, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Leonardo's chairman on Tuesday rowed back on comments ​he made about a possible ‌merger with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, dismissing them as ‌a light-hearted quip.

Stefano Pontecorvo floated the idea of a future combination between the two state-controlled groups at a business ⁠conference in ‌Milan on Monday.

The chair of the Italian defence and aerospace ‍group was addressing an audience that included Claudio Cisilino, Fincantieri’s executive vice‑president for operations.

"I made ​a quip, in clearly joking ‌tones, about a possible merger between Leonardo and Fincantieri," Pontecorvo, a retired career diplomat, said in a statement.

The remarks "do not reflect any hypothesis currently under consideration ⁠and there are ​no formal files or ​dossiers relating to potential industrial operations" between the two firms, he ‍added.

Leonardo and ⁠Fincantieri cooperate on several programmes, but past discussions over deeper industrial integration ⁠have stalled amid political issues and diverging ‌business priorities.

(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro, editing ‌by Alvise Armellini)