Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has formally agreed to the acquisition of Leonardo’s Underwater Armament Systems (UAS) unit.

The deal amounts to a total value of €415 millions.

The two companies announced the acquisition, set to be finalized in early 2025, on Thursday, with Fincantieri sharing that it will acquire not only the technologies related to torpedo’s production, but also the control of the underwater acoustic technologies, which it considers to be a fundamental element in the group’s growth strategy in the underwater sector.

The UAS division was originally established as Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS), a torpedo unit that recorded revenues of €160 million last year.

Fincantieri holds a market share of over 40 percent in naval defence vessel markets, owning 18 shipyards in four continents, according to its 2023 annual report.

According to information, terms of the acquisition include Fincantieri paying a fixed fee of €300 million and, based on certain growth assumptions, an additional €115 directly relating to performance of the underwater armaments business this year.

The latest business initiative builds on the company’s acquisition of Remazel, an Italian submarine supplier, and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2023 with WSense, an underwater monitoring and communication systems company, based in Rome. 

The latter agreement involves Fincantieri and WSense jointly exploring Underwater Internet of Things (UIoT) collaboration.

For Leonardo, the selling of its unit is in line with a new five-year industrial plan unveiled by the company in March, which includes company restructuring, divesting of some assets, exiting a number of defence programs and making supplier payment changes in a bid to cut costs of €1.8 billion through 2028.

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