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Safran has announced that it has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire French artificial intelligence provider Preligens for €220 million.
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The artificial intelligence provider develops solutions that analyse and identify points of military interest across imagery, video, and acoustic signals to enhance situational awareness and improve decision making.
The acquisition is expected to close in Q3 2024, though remains subject to regulatory approvals “as well as the information and consultation of Preligens’ employee representatives”.
According to a release from Safran, the artificial intelligence provider had €28 million of sales in 2023 and boasts 220 employees with 140 engineers in their research and development team.
Safran hopes the acquisition will enable it to add artificial intelligence into its product offering while also enabling Preligens to access international markets.
The acquisition will accelerate the adoption of AI across Safran’s product offering, Olivier Andriès, Safran chief executive officer, said.
“The proposed acquisition of Preligens will boost the adoption of AI within the group, thus optimising our agility and efficiency,” he said.
“With multiple applications, it will represent a step change for our defence and space technology businesses and will also allow us to deploy AI-enabled digital inspection methods to support our focus on flight safety and quality.”
The potential acquisition has been welcomed by Preligens’ leadership, with chief executive officer Jean-Yves Courtois noting that the acquisition will create new opportunities for the company’s employees.
“In eight years, Preligens has become a recognised leader in its field. We are thrilled at the potential to boost our business in the USA, to define jointly innovative AI-powered applications, and to pioneer Industry 4.0 AI technologies. The proposed acquisition will open a new chapter in Preligens’ success story, with more opportunities for our employees to learn, grow, and excel.”
The announcement comes days after the French prime contractor launched its Advanced Cognitive Engine (ACE) artificial intelligence system at Eurosatory 2024.
The capability is expected to improve target detection, classification, and identification by correcting for environmental effects. It also provides advanced tracking and automatic target detection.
The capability can be integrated onto all equipment.
