TRIESTE – Prysmian is leading a joint venture with Fincantieri to acquire Xtera, a company specialising in turnkey submarine telecoms systems.
Xtera will be acquired by a company 80% owned by Prysmian and 20% by Fincantieri. The seller is an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital. The deal is worth $65 million, with closing expected in the first quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
With this acquisition, Prysmian enters the top tier of global subsea telecom operators, in a market seen as strategic and with long-term growth prospects. Demand is being driven by the expansion of data centres, hyperscalers (operators of massive digital infrastructure) and telecom providers, also in connection with the development of artificial intelligence.
The Prysmian–Fincantieri partnership goes beyond the financial transaction. The two companies have launched an industrial collaboration to develop innovative installation, monitoring and security services, aiming to offer the market a “one-stop shop” model for subsea telecom networks. Cable security becomes a central part of the offer, combining Prysmian’s expertise in manufacturing, laying and monitoring with Fincantieri’s advanced underwater solutions, including unmanned platforms and surveillance systems.
For Fincantieri, the deal fits into a strategy that identifies the underwater domain as one of the group’s industrial pillars. The company thus strengthens its role as a system integrator along the entire value chain, at a time when subsea infrastructure is increasingly critical both economically and from a security standpoint.
Xtera, headquartered in London with a presence in the United States, is one of the few companies worldwide able to deliver global-scale subsea telecom networks. It specialises in regional and long-haul links thanks to a proprietary repeater technology. The company has around 60 employees, revenues of about €130 million, and R&D centres in the UK and Texas.
Xtera’s integration completes Prysmian’s offer, as Prysmian already has subsea telecom cable manufacturing capacity at its Nordenham plant, acoustic and thermal monitoring systems, and a global fleet of cable-laying vessels. The collaboration with Fincantieri—already active in the field of specialised vessels—will extend to new services linked to the protection and security of subsea infrastructure.
The emerging industrial model is strongly anchored in both Europe and the United States, with an integrated supply chain and capabilities spread across both sides of the Atlantic. Prysmian and Fincantieri are also evaluating possible extensions of the partnership into subsea power cables, further widening the scope of the alliance.
