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Leonardo, through its UK wholly owned subsidiary Leonardo UK Ltd, has taken a further step to strengthen its role in the cybersecurity sector by entering into a binding agreement for the acquisition of the UK company Becrypt. The acquisition will immediately enhance Leonardo positioning in UK and Five Eyes cyber defences domain and complements the strong existing collaboration between Leonardo UK Ltd (Leonardo), the UK Government and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to secure the country’s most sensitive environments. The operation builds also on the company’s delivery of next-generation cyber solutions across Italy, NATO, and the wider European defence landscape.
The initiative marks the next phase of Leonardo’s continuous enhancement of its Zero Trust solutions, leveraging Becrypt’s cutting-edge capabilities in secure data transfer, endpoint security, data and cloud security. It builds on Leonardo’s recent industrial partnerships and acquisitions in cybersecurity across Europe, notably Axiomatics (Attribute-Based Access Control), SSH Communication (Privileged Access Management and Post-Quantum Encryption) and Arbit (Data Diode and Cross Domain Solutions), in line with Leonardo’s industrial strategy.
Roberto Cingolani, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Leonardo, stated: “This latest acquisition in the UK marks another step forward in Leonardo's strategy to build resilient and sovereign cybersecurity in Europe that overcomes current technological fragmentation. It also testifies to our long-term commitment to the UK, a core home market which plays an important role in strengthening our international footprint. Also, thanks to the capabilities acquired in Zero Trust, we are rapidly developing Leonardo's reach in the cyber domain, which is essential for protecting our nations' sensitive data and critical infrastructures which face rapidly evolving threats. This is why cybersecurity sits at the heart of Leonardo's industrial strategy, playing a key role as an enabler for the development of our multi-domain solutions.”
Bernard Parsons, Chief Executive Officer of Becrypt said: “Being part of Leonardo provides Becrypt with the global reach and scale necessary to deploy our technology across a wider field. This will accelerate the development of our secure platforms, ensuring that the critical sectors we serve have access to the most advanced tools required to maintain information superiority and digital security.”
Closing of the Becrypt acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and expected within Q2 2026. During the process, Leonardo was supported by PwC acting as financial advisor and by GOP acting as legal advisor.
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in London, Becrypt Ltd (becrypt.com) employs around 100 people, developing technology designed to protect data up to Top Secret classification. The SME’s core offering portfolio includes secure operating systems, secure collaboration, and secure data transfer solution and mobile device management platforms, responding to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) needs for Multi-Domain Integration. Becrypt Ltd represents a unique strategic asset, delivering endpoint security and secure data transfer solutions to the UK MOD and wider government departments, to enhance the security in this highly sensitive and mission-critical segment.
About Leonardo
Leonardo (leonardo.com) is an international industrial group, among the main global companies in Aerospace, Defence, and Security (AD&S). With 60,000 employees worldwide, the company approaches global security through the Helicopters, Electronics, Aeronautics, Cyber & Security and Space sectors, and is a partner on the most important international programmes such as Eurofighter, JSF, NH-90, FREMM, GCAP, and Eurodrone. Leonardo has significant production capabilities in Italy, the UK, Poland, and the USA. Leonardo utilises its subsidiaries, joint ventures, and shareholdings, which include Leonardo DRS (71.4%), MBDA (25%), ATR (50%), Hensoldt (22.8%), Telespazio (67%), Thales Alenia Space (33%), and Avio (19.3%). Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), in 2024 Leonardo recorded new orders for €20.9 billion, with an order book of €44.2 billion and consolidated revenues of €17.8 billion. Included in the MIB ESG index, the company has also been part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) since 2010.
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