Kraken spent C$615 million to stop being a backlog story. Now it has to integrate one.

Kraken Robotics announced on July 2 that it had closed its acquisition of the Covelya Group for about C$615 million, and used the same release to raise its full-year guidance and add executives from the acquired business. For a company whose stock has traded on the strength of a growing order backlog, this is a categorical change: Kraken is no longer a subsea-sonar contractor waiting for its book to convert, it is a global platform that just bought a portfolio of established subsea brands.

Covelya brings in Sonardyne, EIVA, Forcys, Voyis, and Chelsea Technologies, names in underwater positioning, sensing, and navigation that Kraken previously competed alongside rather than owned. The purchase price was funded with roughly C$480 million in cash and about C$135 million in Kraken stock, issued as 15,882,352 common shares at a deemed price of C$8.50. That share issuance is the first thing a shareholder should register: existing owners were diluted to get this done.

The guidance is the point

With Covelya consolidated, Kraken now guides 2026 revenue to C$290 million to C$320 million and adjusted EBITDA to C$65 million to C$75 million, weighted to the second half. Those are step-change numbers for a company that was a fraction of that size on a standalone basis. Management is targeting about C$10 million of cost synergies within 24 months and low-to-mid double-digit EPS accretion in 2027 once those synergies are in place.

The strategic logic is sound. Owning Sonardyne and the rest gives Kraken a broader product stack to sell into the same defense and offshore-energy customers, deeper ties to European navies, and a bigger installed base to pull service revenue from. Combined announced orders in 2026 reached roughly C$110 million for Kraken and about C$182 million for Covelya, which is the demand backdrop management is buying into.

The other side

An acquisition that roughly doubles a company is where integration risk lives. Melding five brands, their systems, their sales teams, and their cultures into one operation is where deals of this kind most often disappoint, and the synergy target and accretion math both assume it goes well. The stock dilution is done and real. And a large cash outlay of this size changes the shape of the balance sheet, so the combined entity's leverage and cash generation are worth watching closely in the first reported quarter as one company.

• Integration risk. A deal that roughly doubles the company means merging five subsea brands, their systems, and their teams. This is where transactions like it most often stumble.
• Dilution is done. Kraken issued 15,882,352 shares at C$8.50 to fund the stock portion, diluting existing holders.
• Synergy math is a promise. The C$10M synergy target and 2027 EPS accretion both depend on integration going to plan.
• Real scale and demand. Combined 2026 announced orders near C$290 million and a broader product stack give the platform a credible base.

What to watch

The first quarter reported as a combined entity is the catalyst that matters, because it is the first look at whether the enlarged Kraken hits the revenue and EBITDA guidance and starts to show synergy capture. Order flow across the combined brands and any early sign of cost savings are the tells. Kraken also lists on the TSX Venture Exchange under PNG for readers who follow the Canadian line. The scale is now real. The job is to make one company out of six.