Reuters reported that Qatar and Italy will sign an agreement this week in Rome that foresees the Gulf state ordering four corvette warships and a support vessel from state-controlled ship builder Fincantieri, a government source said on Tuesday.

The order, when completed, would be worth around €5 billion ($5.61 billion), the source said. Italy’s defense company Leonardo-Finmeccanica would supply electronics and weapons systems, he added.

Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti is due to meet in Rome a delegation of the Qatar government on Thursday to sign the accord, the source said.

Fincantieri and Leonardo-Finmeccanica had no immediate comment. Shares in Fincantieri jumped as much as 4% on the news.

The ships would be built in Italy, in the company’s shipyards of Riva Trigoso and Muggiano, both in the northern region of Liguria, the source said.

National media have reported that Italy had been vying with France to supply warships to Qatar.

Fincantieri, heir to the great tradition of Italian shipbuilding and one of the largest shipbuilding groups in the world, operates in the design and construction of complex ships with high technological content such as merchant and naval vessels, offshore and mega yachts.

The Company is a leader in the construction of cruise ships and large ferries. Moreover, it is the reference builder for a wide range of ship types including surface vessels (frigates, corvettes, patrol vessels etc.) and submarines.

Fincantieri is a partner to ship owners and to the Defense sector with innovative, tailor-made turn-key products backed by a high service level.

The company’s wide ranging engineering expertise and capacity to build prototypes enable it to take up new opportunities on the market by developing tailor-made products. This specific skills were proved in January 2013 by the acquisition of STX OSV (today VARD), a company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, world leader in the construction of offshore support vessels for oil and gas extraction and production. Thanks to this transaction Fincantieri improved its competitive position in the offshore industry, becoming one of the leading groups in this sector.

In the field of ship repairs and conversions, Fincantieri provides services worldwide and organizes interventions to be carried out at its own facilities or at third party facilities with the aim of reducing the amount of time the ship is out of service and in accordance with customer requirements.

It develops and builds naval systems (stabilizers, solutions and components for propulsion and power generation etc.), industrial turbines, as well as diesel engines, for both marine and industrial application through its subsidiary Isotta Fraschini Motori.

The company also draws on its expertise to create complex, high value designs for the luxury niche market of mega yachts of over 70 meters.