You are currently viewing Thales Strikes €3.9 Billion Deal for Underwater Drone Maker Exail

Thales Strikes €3.9 Billion Deal for Underwater Drone Maker Exail

Prime Highlights 

  • Thales said the acquisition would help it gain critical mass in the growing unmanned mine countermeasures market and speed up anti-submarine warfare innovation. 
  • Pierroberto Folgiero said Fincantieri’s acquisitions mark a historic transformation, creating an international champion in the underwater domain. 

Key Facts 

  • Exail reported 2025 revenue of €479 million, compared with Thales’s €22.1 billion in annual sales. 
  • Fincantieri is spending €600 million to acquire four maritime drone and undersea engineering firms. 

Background 

Thales has agreed to buy a 35.5% stake in French underwater-drone maker Exail Technologies from the Gorgé family and plans to make a tender offer for the remaining shares, at an implied enterprise value of €3.9 billion. The offer beats a competing bid from Safran. 

Thales will offer €134 per share for the remaining Exail stock, a 44% premium over the share price recorded in late June, before Safran announced talks with the Gorgé family at a lower price. Safran ended exclusive negotiations earlier this month after failing to reach acceptable terms. 

Exail supplies maritime drones for several European mine-hunting systems, including a French programme led by Thales. The company said the acquisition would expand its scale in underwater warfare and strengthen its inertial navigation capabilities. 

Thales said the deal would help it gain market share in unmanned mine countermeasures and speed up innovation in anti-submarine warfare. Exail reported 2025 revenue of €479 million, compared with Thales’s €22.1 billion in annual sales. 

The purchase of the Gorgé family stake is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, with a mandatory tender offer to follow, expected to conclude by early 2028. 

Separately, Italian shipyard Fincantieri announced it is spending €600 million to acquire four maritime drone and undersea engineering firms, aiming to strengthen its position in the undersea market. Chief executive Pierroberto Folgiero said the acquisitions mark a major transformation for the company.