Fincantieri Buys Four Underwater Companies in €600M Deal
Quick Reads
* Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder behind some of the world’s most advanced naval and cruise vessels, has struck deals to buy majority stakes in four underwater tech companies for €600 million.
* The financial numbers make this deal stand out: on a pro-forma basis, Fincantieri’s underwater business will generate over €1.1 billion in revenue in 2026 alone a target that wasn’t supposed to be hit until 2030.
* Each acquisition gives Fincantieri a 51% controlling stake, with options to acquire the rest over time based on how each company performs between 2026 and 2031.
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has agreed to acquire majority stakes in four underwater technology companies Next Geosolutions, WSense, Graal Tech, and Defcomm in a €600 million deal that the company says will create an international leader in the underwater sector.
The Fincantieri underwater acquisitions target four distinct capabilities: Next Geosolutions, listed on Euronext Growth Milan, is an international leader in marine surveys, geosciences, and offshore construction support. WSense specializes in underwater communications and internet of underwater things technology. Graal Tech builds autonomous underwater drones, and Defcomm develops autonomous surface drones. Together, they extend Fincantieri’s reach across the full underwater value chain from hardware and physical platforms to software, wireless telecommunications, and subsea services and join a hub that already includes WASS Submarine Systems and Remazel Engineering. The combined ecosystem will employ around 1,500 professionals across Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UAE.
The financial impact is significant. On a pro-forma basis, the deals push Fincantieri’s underwater segment revenues above €1.1 billion in 2026 up from €667 million in 2025 hitting a 2030 target four years ahead of schedule. EBITDA for the segment expected to reach approximately €220 million. At the group level, the acquisitions lift pro-forma 2026 EBITDA by 13% and net profit by 40%, while boosting earnings per share by 30% by 2028. Fincantieri’s share price jumped 8% to €11.8 on the Milan bourse after the announcement. The deals will be funded from the €500 million capital raise the company completed in February 2026, supplemented by other available group resources, and will not affect Fincantieri’s existing 2026 net debt-to-EBITDA guidance.
CEO Pierroberto Folgiero called it a “historic industrial transformation for Fincantieri.” Each deal targets a 51% majority stake, with performance-linked options over the remaining shares running to 2031, and founding management staying on at each acquired company.
