Germany committed to stake in arms maker KNDS despite delayed IPO
21.07.2026
Photo: Christian Lademann/dpa
Germany remains committed to acquiring a stake in arms maker KNDS, despite the company's delayed stock exchange listing, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said during a visit to the KNDS plant in Kassel.
"The federal government is committed to the highly important key German defence technologies, and so also to Germany as an industrial base, to KNDS, and to the expertise and capabilities of this company with its many sites across Germany," the politician said.
Pistorius noted that KNDS is one of the German military's largest contractors. Acquiring a stake in the company, he said, would help secure technologies, industrial capacity, jobs and production sites for the future.
KNDS, the Franco-German manufacturer of the Leopard 2 main battle tank and the Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzer, recently postponed its planned initial public offering (IPO), citing market volatility.
The IPO was intended to facilitate the German government's planned investment in the company. The move followed an agreement between the German and French governments on KNDS' future ownership structure.
Under the arrangement, Germany and France would each acquire a 40% stake, with the remaining 20% sold to institutional investors.
In early July, KNDS said it would continue to monitor market conditions with the intention of moving to an IPO.
KNDS was created in 2015 through the merger of Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and France's Nexter, with the company's name standing for KMW Nexter Defence Systems.
The company is currently owned equally by the family behind Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and the French state. KNDS employs more than 11,000 people and generated €4.4 billion ($50 billion) in revenue during the 2025 financial year.
Its parent holding company is headquartered in Amsterdam, while its German headquarters are in Munich and its French headquarters are located near Paris.
No comments:
Post a Comment