Thales has completed the acquisition of Gemalto for a deal worth €4.8 billion.
The addition of Gemalto will see Thales develop secure solutions to address the major challenges such as unmanned air traffic management, data and network cybersecurity, airport security and financial transaction security as part of a €1 billion self-funded R&D function.
The combination, which was first announced in December 2017, will create a provider with a portfolio of digital identity and security solutions based on technologies such as biometry, data protection and cybersecurity. Gemalto will form one of Thales’s seven global divisions, to be named “Digital Identity and Security” and interact with all of the Group’s civil and defense customers.
Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO, Thales, said: “With Gemalto, a global leader in digital identification and data protection, Thales has acquired a set of highly complementary technologies and competencies with applications in all of our five vertical markets. Together, we are creating a giant in digital identity and security with the capabilities to compete in the big leagues worldwide.”
As part of the deal, nCipher’s identity-based and PKI security solutions become part of Entrust after nCipher was initially acquired in 2008 by Thales. The sale of nCipher was necessary after Thales announced its intention to acquire Gemalto, and as part of the regulatory process and in order to obtain regulatory clearances among other agencies and from the European Commission, Thales committed to divest its Thales eSecurity’s nShield business in full to a suitable purchaser.