Drone Volt sells 50% of Aerialtronics to partner at a high valuation
M&A /CORP. ACTION

Drone Volt has finalised this highly anticipated sale to its American partner Aquiline Drones at a valuation of €15m, which represents an added value of €6m for the French drone company. The discussions for the sale of 50% of Aerialtronics started in January 2021, and the deal was expected by the end of this year.


FACT

Aerialtronics has been a subsidiary of Drone Volt since 2017, when the latter bought 50% of it at €100k due to its liquidation state. Since then, Drone Volt has managed to restructure the business successfully and, by September 2020, Drone Volt bought the remaining 50% for €2.5m as Aerialtronics was valued €5m. Today the company is valued three times this price, which means that through its 50% sale of Aerialtronics to Aquiline Drones, Drone Volt has made €6m in added value.

Drone Volt has, however, managed to keep control of Aerialtronics’ operations, and the subsidiary will remain 100% consolidated in Drone Volt’s financial statements. Aerialtronics is the company that created the Altura Zenith drone and the Pensar camera, which is embedded with AI and offers great potential.

Through this acquisition, Aquiline Drones confirms once again its trust in Drone Volt’s technology and consolidates an already solid partnership.


IMPACT

We have already anticipated this news in our estimates, therefore we reiterate our Buy recommendation.