After months of negotiations, Thales has finally completed its acquisition of Gemalto. The final price tag was €4.8 billion, and increases Thales’s revenues to €19 billion for 2018.

“With Gemalto, Thales has acquired a set of highly complementary technologies and competencies with applications in all of our five vertical markets,” said Thales Chairman and CEO Patrice Caine. “Together, we are creating a giant in digital identity and security with the capabilities to compete in the big leagues worldwide.”

According to Caine, those five verticals include space, aerospace, and ground transportation, as well as digital identity and defense security. The news concludes a lengthy acquisition process that started more than a year ago and forced Thales to divest its HSM business in response to an anti-trust investigation in the EU. The offer was finally accepted at the end of March, after the proposed deal received a number of needed regulatory approvals from around the world, allowing for the completion of the sale.

Thanks to the merger, Thales now boasts 80,000 employees in 68 countries, with a €1 billion annual investment in R&D as the company continues to explore biometrics and the Internet of Things. The company’s solutions are expected to have applications in finance, cybersecurity, airport security, and a number of other industries.