Gemalto and Thales have announced that they “are making good progress” on their acquisition deal.

The companies announced that Gemalto’s leadership had acquiesced to Thales’ acquisition offer toward the end of last year. The deal represented a kind of rescue, arriving as Gemalto had been fending off a hostile acquisition attempt by Atos. That firm had offered EUR 46 for all issued and outstanding Gemalto shares – a sever undervaluation, according to Gemalto’s management – while Thales has offered EUR 51.

Gemalto and Thales’ latest announcement is the result of a condition of that initial agreement, which stipulated that the firms would need to issue a joint update on their progress within four weeks. They now say that Thales expects to submit a request for a review of its acquisition offer to Netherlands regulatory authorities during the week of January 29th, and that both companies expect to close the deal “shortly after Thales has secured all customary regulatory approvals and clearances, which is anticipated in the second half of 2018.”

In their initial acquisition announcement, the companies suggested that their merger will result in a ranking in the top three digital security players in the world, with anticipated revenues of EUR 3.5 billion.