Fincantieri has entered into an agreement with the senior managers of NextGeo Solutions Europe, a company whose acquisition it announced earlier this month. 

NextGeo, a provider of marine survey and geoscience services, is to be acquired together with three other companies in the underwater segment – WSense, Graal Tech and Defcomm. 

Fincantieri has now shared that NextGeo’s reinvesting shareholders will keep more than 70 percent of their current holdings in the company, while transferring an aggregate 4.13 percent stake in NextGeo to Fincantieri once the deal closes. 

They will also be able to gradually exit the company’s share capital through a series of put and call options once the financial statements for fiscal years 2027, 2028 and 2029 are approved. 

Pierroberto Folgiero, chief executive officer and managing director of Fincantieri, said: “We are building the first European platform capable of operating, connecting, protecting and governing the underwater domain through services, drones, sensors, communications, defense systems and strategic platforms.” 

As announced in early July, the four companies will be integrated into Fincantieri’s Underwater technological hub, which will comprise a total of eight companies. 

The structure of the four transactions guarantees managers/shareholders continuity through the reinvestment of significant stakes in the respective companies, Fincantieri said at the time. 

This follows two milestones the shipyard achieved earlier this month: the delivery of the Explora III, which Fincantieri is building for Explora Journeys, and steel-cutting for Carnival’s new Ace-Class ship, which will be named the Carnival Destiny.