--- title: "Fincantieri Jumps as It Spends €600 Million to Build an 'Underwater Champion'" description: "Italy's Fincantieri, one of the world's largest shipbuilders, is buying four underwater-technology companies for about €600 million to create what it calls an 'international underwater champion.' Its shares rose around 11% as investors bet on booming demand to defend undersea cables and pipelines." category: "Markets" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/markets author: "Daniel Okonkwo" published: 2026-07-06T10:37:20.000Z updated: 2026-07-06T10:37:20.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/fincantieri-jumps-as-it-spends-600-million-euros-to-build-an-underwater-champion tags: ["fincantieri", "defense", "shipbuilding", "m-and-a", "subsea"] --- # Fincantieri Jumps as It Spends €600 Million to Build an 'Underwater Champion' Italy's Fincantieri, one of the world's largest shipbuilders, is buying four underwater-technology companies for about €600 million to create what it calls an 'international underwater champion.' Its shares rose around 11% as investors bet on booming demand to defend undersea cables and pipelines. The Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri is making a big bet on the seabed. The company said it had agreed to buy four underwater-technology firms for an initial outlay of about €600 million, building a single large operator in a fast-growing corner of the defense industry, [Fincantieri said](https://www.fincantieri.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026/fincantieri-creates-an-international-underwater-champion-acquisition-of-four-companies-to-accelerate-growth-in-marine-drone-and-in-commercial-and-defense-underwater-activities-with-an-initial-expenditur-of-approzimately-euro-600-million). Its shares climbed around 11% on the news, [according to Investing.com](https://fr.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/les-actions-de-fincantieri-bondissent-de-11-grace-a-un-investissement-sousmarin-de-600-millions--3485227). ## What Fincantieri is buying The company is acquiring stakes in four businesses that, between them, cover the "underwater" waterfront: Next Geosolutions, a Milan-listed marine-survey and offshore-services group; WSense, which develops underwater communications and sensing; Graal Tech, a maker of autonomous underwater vehicles; and Defcomm, which builds autonomous surface vessels, [Fincantieri said](https://www.fincantieri.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026/fincantieri-creates-an-international-underwater-champion-acquisition-of-four-companies-to-accelerate-growth-in-marine-drone-and-in-commercial-and-defense-underwater-activities-with-an-initial-expenditur-of-approzimately-euro-600-million). Fincantieri agreed to value Next Geosolutions at €16.25 a share, slightly below its recent price, [reports said](https://ch.zonebourse.com/actualite-bourse/fincantieri-acquiert-quatre-entreprises-du-secteur-sous-marin-pour-600-millions-d-euros-ce7f5edade8ff625). The €600 million is described as the initial spend; Fincantieri put the eventual enterprise value of the combined underwater unit at roughly €1.6 billion to €2.0 billion. On a pro-forma basis it expects the unit to generate about €1.1 billion in revenue and €220 million in core earnings (EBITDA) in 2026, lifting group EBITDA by around 13% and net profit by about 40%, [the company said](https://www.fincantieri.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026/fincantieri-creates-an-international-underwater-champion-acquisition-of-four-companies-to-accelerate-growth-in-marine-drone-and-in-commercial-and-defense-underwater-activities-with-an-initial-expenditur-of-approzimately-euro-600-million). ## Why the seabed is suddenly hot The strategic backdrop is Europe's growing worry about what lies beneath its waters. Undersea cables carry the overwhelming majority of the world's internet traffic and data, and pipelines move much of its energy, yet both are exposed to sabotage. Damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines and to the Baltic's Balticconnector in recent years turned an abstract risk into a live security concern, and European governments have begun spending to monitor and protect this infrastructure. Companies that can map the seabed, listen underwater and deploy uncrewed vehicles stand to benefit. That demand is showing up in the numbers. Fincantieri's underwater segment brought in €667 million of revenue in 2025, and the company expects the area to grow strongly in the years ahead, [Fincantieri said](https://www.fincantieri.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026/fincantieri-creates-an-international-underwater-champion-acquisition-of-four-companies-to-accelerate-growth-in-marine-drone-and-in-commercial-and-defense-underwater-activities-with-an-initial-expenditur-of-approzimately-euro-600-million). Rising European defense budgets add further tailwinds. ## The bigger picture Fincantieri, based in Trieste, is best known for building cruise ships and warships, including naval vessels for Italy and contracts with the US Navy. Rolling up a set of smaller specialists into one underwater division is an attempt to move up the value chain, from building the ships to owning the sensors, drones and software that increasingly define modern naval and subsea operations, where niche expertise commands higher margins. The market's reaction suggests investors see the logic. As with any acquisition spree, the harder part is integration: turning four separate companies into a single, profitable champion is the work that will determine whether the bet pays off. ## Sources - [Fincantieri creates an international underwater champion](https://www.fincantieri.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026/fincantieri-creates-an-international-underwater-champion-acquisition-of-four-companies-to-accelerate-growth-in-marine-drone-and-in-commercial-and-defense-underwater-activities-with-an-initial-expenditur-of-approzimately-euro-600-million) - [Fincantieri shares jump 11% on €600 million underwater investment](https://fr.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/les-actions-de-fincantieri-bondissent-de-11-grace-a-un-investissement-sousmarin-de-600-millions--3485227)