Exail seen up after Thales agrees to buy controlling stake
BUZZ-Exail seen up after Thales agrees to buy controlling stake ** Shares in Exail Technologies EXA.PA seen up 5% after an agreement with Thales TCFP.PA for the latter to purchase a controlling stake in the sea drones maker
** Julien Thomas at TP ICAP Midcap says the offering price of €134 per share is almost bang on his target price and he sees no better fit for Exail than Thales
** Exail's shares closed at €122.5 on Friday
** "I would not have identified any other natural potential buyer for Exail, indeed, rumour has it that Thales had already approached Exail on several occasions in the recent past," Thomas says
** Jefferies too viewed the deal positively, noting it reinforces Thales' defence position especially through navigation systems
** Up to the previous session's close, Exail's shares rose 50.3% YTD
($1 = 0.8757 euros)
(Reporting by Jakob Van Calster and Hugo Lhomedet)