DNV has announced plans to fully acquire cybersecurity firm Nixu, a move it believes will build cyber resilience in the maritime industry.

A recent public tender offer saw DNV take ownership of more than 93% of Nixu’s shares. DNV plans to acquire the remaining shares before delisting the Finland-based company from the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.

DNV intends to combine its existing cybersecurity businesses with Nixu once it has been delisted.

It said the €98-million deal would create “one of Europe’s fastest growing cyber security services businesses”, with a combined team of more than 500 cybersecurity experts.

Under the acquisition, DNV and Nixu intend to safeguard IT and industrial control systems environments and build business resilience across industries including maritime, energy, telecommunications and financial services.

The two companies would also combine their cybersecurity certification businesses.

“In this decade of transformations, fulfilling our purpose of safeguarding life, property, and the environment is no longer restricted to managing risk for physical systems,” DNV group president and CEO Remi Eriksen said.

“It must now cover many distributed and interlinked cyber-physical systems,” he said.

“By joining forces with Nixu we will make cyberspace a more secure place with even greater impact than either company could achieve alone.

“Together, we will shape the future through cyber security, enabling more than 100,000 customers, their systems and their supply chains to manage emerging risks.”

Nixu CEO Teemu Salmi is to lead the combined business.

“We have the scale to bring even greater value to our customers and be an exceptional place to work for cyber security professionals,” he said.

“DNV and Nixu will not only join forces with each other, we will work in partnership with our customers and the security community at large to drive innovation and industry best practice to ensure business resilience and safeguard society.”

DNV has commenced a subsequent tender offer period, inviting holders of remaining shares in Nixu to tender their shares by 26 June.

It said it has started the process to acquire all remaining minority shares in Nixu before applying to delist it from the stock exchange.