Thales to buy French underwater-drone maker Exail in $4.5 billion deal

PARIS and ROME – Thales agreed to buy 35.5% of French underwater-drone maker Exail Technologies from the Gorgé family, and plans to make a tender offer to buy the remainder of the company at an implied enterprise value of €3.9 billion (US$4.5 billion), beating a competing offer by Safran.

Thales will offer to buy the remaining Exail shares for €134 each, the company said on Monday . That’s a 44% premium to the Exail share price on June 25, the day before Safran announced talks with the Gorgé family at a price of €128.50 a share.

Safran said it ended exclusive negotiations on Friday about the potential acquisition after the parties were unable to reach mutually acceptable terms.

Exail provides maritime drones for several European autonomous mine-hunting systems, including the French program led by Thales. The market for mine warfare is expected to grow in the high single digits through to 2030, while the addressable market for unmanned anti-submarine warfare is forecast to increase eightfold by the end of the decade, Thales said in a presentation .

“With this acquisition, Thales aims to increase its scale in the underwater warfare market, and to expand its capabilities in inertial navigation systems through the addition of Exail’s complementary expertise,” the company said.

Thales said the acquisition allows it to gain critical mass in the growing market for unmanned mine countermeasures and speed up innovation in anti-submarine warfare. Exail produces a range of underwater and surface drones, as well as inertial navigation technology, with 76% of its sales coming from navigation and maritime robotics, and the remainder from advanced technologies.

Exail’s autonomous maritime drones are used for underwater mine clearing and seabed mapping, with emerging uses including anti-submarine warfare as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Thales is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of sonar systems, including towed sonar used by many Western navies.

The purchase by Thales of the Gorgé family stake is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, after which the company will file a mandatory tender offer for all of Exail’s shares and convertible bonds that is expected to close by early 2028 at the latest.

Thales said it expects “significant value creation” for its shareholders from the acquisition, with Exail adding to the company’s earnings per share from the first year, and an impact on Thales operating profit of more than €90 million by 2032.

Exail had 2025 revenue of €479 million, and an order book of €1.1 billion at the end of March, according to the presentation document. That compares with Thales sales of €22.1 billion last year, and an order book of €53.3 billion at the end of December.

Thales said the purchase will strengthen its underwater warfare business, allow it to gain market share in inertial navigation systems, and help accelerate development of quantum sensors. Combining the two companies could generate additional revenue of €500 million within 10 years, Thales said.

Fincantieri acquisitions

Meanwhile, Italian shipyard Fincantieri is spending €600 million to acquire four maritime drone and undersea engineering firms as it seeks to strengthen its role in the growing civil and defense undersea market.

The Italian state-controlled yard said it was buying firm Next Geosolutions, which offers offshore construction support services, as well as Italian start-ups WSense, Graal Tech and Defcomm which specialize in underwater communications and surface and undersea drones.

“The acquisitions announced today mark a historic transformation for Fincantieri, as it creates an international champion in the underwater domain,” the group’s CEO, Pierroberto Folgiero, said in a statement.

Supported by a €500 million capital increase in February, the acquisitions add to Fincantieri’s recent purchases of undersea firm Remazel and torpedo maker WASS.

Following the new acquisitions, Fincantieri’s sub-sea revenue will hit €1.1 billion this year, €1.4 billion in 2028 and €1.8 billion in 2030, the firm said.

Fincantieri said it would seek synergies between civilian and military sub-sea technologies, in the same way it has long sought synergies between its naval vessel and cruise ship businesses.

Following the acquisitions, Fincantieri will employ 1,500 in sub-sea activities in Italy, the Netherlands, the U.K., Norway and the United Arab Emirates, the firm said.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

巴黎和罗马——泰雷兹公司同意从戈尔热家族手中收购法国水下无人机制造商Exail Technologies 35.5%的股份，并计划以39亿欧元（45亿美元）的隐含企业价值向该公司发出要约收购要约，以收购剩余股份，击败赛峰集团的竞争性报价。

泰雷兹公司周一表示，将以每股134欧元的价格收购Exail剩余的股份。这一价格较6月25日Exail的股价溢价44%，而就在前一天，赛峰集团宣布与戈尔热家族就每股128.50欧元的收购价格展开谈判。

赛峰集团表示，由于双方未能达成彼此都能接受的条款，已于周五结束了关于潜在收购的独家谈判。

Exail为多个欧洲自主扫雷系统提供海上无人机，其中包括泰雷兹公司牵头的法国项目。泰雷兹公司在一份报告中指出，预计到2030年，水雷战市场将保持较高的个位数增长率，而无人反潜战市场预计到本十年末将增长八倍。

“通过此次收购，泰雷兹旨在扩大其在水下作战市场的规模，并通过吸收Exail的互补专业知识来扩展其在惯性导航系统方面的能力，”该公司表示。

泰雷兹表示，此次收购使其能够在蓬勃发展的无人扫雷市场中获得关键规模优势，并加速反潜战领域的创新。Exail公司生产一系列水下和水面无人机以及惯性导航技术，其76%的销售额来自导航和海洋机器人产品，其余部分来自先进技术。

Exail公司的自主式海上无人机用于水下扫雷和海底测绘，其新兴用途包括反潜作战以及情报、监视和侦察。泰雷兹是世界最大的声呐系统制造商之一，其拖曳式声呐被许多西方国家的海军所采用。

泰雷兹收购 Gorgé 家族股份的交易预计将于 2026 年第三季度完成，之后该公司将对 Exail 的所有股份和可转换债券发起强制性要约收购，预计最迟将于 2028 年初完成。

泰雷兹表示，预计此次收购将为股东创造“重大价值”，Exail 将从第一年起增加公司的每股收益，到 2032 年将使泰雷兹的营业利润增加超过 9000 万欧元。

根据演示文件，Exail 2025 年的收入为 4.79 亿欧元，截至 3 月底的订单总额为 11 亿欧元。相比之下，泰雷兹去年的销售额为 221 亿欧元，截至 12 月底的订单总额为 533 亿欧元。

泰雷兹表示，此次收购将增强其水下作战业务，使其在惯性导航系统领域获得市场份额，并加速量子传感器的研发。泰雷兹还表示，两家公司合并后，有望在10年内创造5亿欧元的额外收入。

芬坎蒂尼收购案

与此同时，意大利造船厂芬坎蒂尼集团斥资 6 亿欧元收购了四家海上无人机和水下工程公司，以期加强其在不断增长的民用和国防水下市场中的地位。

这家意大利国有造船厂表示，它将收购提供海上建造支持服务的公司 Next Geosolutions，以及专门从事水下通信和水面及水下无人机的意大利初创公司 WSense、Graal Tech 和 Defcomm。

“今天宣布的收购标志着芬坎蒂尼集团的历史性转型，因为它打造了水下领域的国际冠军，”集团首席执行官皮埃罗贝托·福尔杰罗在一份声明中表示。

在 2 月份 5 亿欧元增资的支持下，这些收购进一步壮大了 Fincantieri 近期对海底公司 Remazel 和鱼雷制造商 WASS 的收购版图。

该公司表示，随着新收购的完成，芬坎蒂尼集团今年的海底业务收入将达到 11 亿欧元，2028 年将达到 14 亿欧元，2030 年将达到 18 亿欧元。

芬坎蒂尼集团表示，将寻求民用和军用水下技术之间的协同效应，就像它长期以来寻求海军舰艇和邮轮业务之间的协同效应一样。

该公司表示，收购完成后，芬坎蒂尼将在意大利、荷兰、英国、挪威和阿联酋的海底业务部门雇用 1500 名员工。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。