Thales has agreed to acquire a 35.5% stake in French underwater-drone maker Exail Technologies from the Gorgé family and plans to launch a tender offer for the remaining shares, in a transaction implying an enterprise value of €3.9 billion (US$4.5 billion). The proposed deal would expand Thales’ position in underwater warfare, autonomous mine countermeasures and inertial navigation systems.
Thales said it would offer €134 per Exail share for the balance of the company, a 44% premium to Exail’s June 25 share price. The offer follows Safran’s decision to end exclusive acquisition negotiations on Friday after the parties could not reach mutually acceptable terms. Safran had announced talks with the Gorgé family on June 26 at a price of €128.50 per share.
Autonomous mine warfare and navigation
Exail supplies maritime drones to several European autonomous mine-hunting systems, including the French programme led by Thales. Its portfolio includes underwater and surface drones and inertial-navigation technology. According to Thales, navigation and maritime robotics account for 76% of Exail sales, with advanced technologies making up the remainder.
The company’s autonomous maritime systems are used for underwater mine clearing and seabed mapping, with potential applications also emerging in anti-submarine warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Thales, which manufactures sonar systems including towed sonar used by Western navies, said the acquisition would bring complementary capabilities as demand develops for unmanned underwater systems.
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.
Thales
Thales said the mine-warfare market is expected to grow at a high-single-digit rate through 2030. It also forecasts that its addressable market for unmanned anti-submarine warfare will increase eightfold by the end of the decade. The group said bringing Exail into the business would provide critical mass in unmanned mine countermeasures and help accelerate innovation in anti-submarine warfare, as well as support work on quantum sensors.
Transaction timeline and expected impact
The purchase of the Gorgé family’s stake is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. Thales would then file a mandatory tender offer covering Exail shares and convertible bonds, a process expected to close by early 2028 at the latest.
Exail reported €479 million in revenue in 2025 and an order book of €1.1 billion at the end of March. Thales reported sales of €22.1 billion last year and an order book of €53.3 billion at the end of December. Thales expects Exail to add to earnings per share from the first year and forecast an impact of more than €90 million on operating profit by 2032. It also said the combination could generate €500 million in additional revenue within 10 years.
The proposed transaction comes as other European industrial groups seek greater scale in undersea technologies. In Italy, Fincantieri is spending €600 million to acquire four maritime-drone and undersea-engineering businesses: Next Geosolutions, WSense, Graal Tech and Defcomm. Fincantieri said the purchases would strengthen its civil and defence undersea activities, spanning offshore support, underwater communications, and surface and underwater drones.
Fincantieri said the acquisitions, backed by a €500 million capital increase in February, would lift its sub-sea revenue to €1.1 billion this year, €1.4 billion in 2028 and €1.8 billion in 2030. The company said it intends to pursue synergies between civilian and military sub-sea technologies, mirroring its approach across naval-vessel and cruise-ship operations.
