Thales signs tender offer deal to buy drone maker Exail

By Florence Loeve

PARIS, July 31 - Thales said on Friday it had signed a tender offer agreement with Exail Technologies setting out the terms of its planned acquisition of the drone maker, advancing a deal announced earlier this month that would expand its position in the drone warfare market.

Europe's largest defence technology group and Exail first announced the transaction on July 6, giving Exail an enterprise value of €3.9 billion.

Thales said the terms and conditions of the acquisition, including the offer price of €134 per share, were unchanged from the July announcement. 

Under the agreement, Thales will acquire the 35.51% stake held by Exail's controlling shareholder, the Gorgé family, before launching a mandatory tender offer for the remaining shares and ODIRNANE bonds - a type of bond that has no fixed maturity date and can be converted into new or existing shares, or cash - t does not already own.

Closing of the purchase of the Gorgé family's stake is expected by the third quarter of 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals, including antitrust clearance, Thales said. The mandatory tender offer would be filed afterwards and is expected to close by early 2028 at the latest.

When announcing the deal earlier this month, the companies said they expected the anti-submarine warfare addressable market to increase almost tenfold to over €700 billion in 2030, from €85 billion in 2025, amid rising naval spending.

(Reporting by Florence LoèveEditing by Tomasz Janowski)