By Sabine Siebold<\/p>\n
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Franco-German defence supplier KNDS will decide in the coming months whether to launch an initial public offering next year, CEO Jean-Paul Alary said on Monday, and suggested the German government might take a stake in the company.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Amsterdam, Alary said KNDS’s board had told him to be prepared for an IPO but that a final decision had not yet been taken.<\/p>\n
“As a first step, I cannot see … a reference shareholder that will not be a German shareholder,” Alary told Reuters following the press conference in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
Asked whether this meant that the German government might take a stake in KNDS, he said: “It makes sense that there is a first step like that.”<\/p>\n
Alary, who took over as CEO in April, confirmed KNDS had held talks with the German government about potentially acquiring a blocking minority among other matters.<\/p>\n
Formed in 2015 with the merger of Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) – famous for making Leopard tanks – and French state-owned weapons maker Nexter, KMW’s previous private owners and the French government remain joint shareholders.<\/p>\n
Reuters reported in February that KNDS was considering an IPO as early as the end of this year.<\/p>\n
European defence firms have received a boost with the surge in military spending provoked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as governments move to bolster their own security while supplying Kyiv with weapons and ammunition.<\/p>\n
Longer term, Alary said a listing could open the company’s capital to reference shareholders linked to other European nations and supply KNDS with the funds to finance what he called “bold” acquisitions.<\/p>\n
An acquisition in Italy might be one option, he added, despite the latest setback KNDS suffered with regard to its bid for Iveco Defence.<\/p>\n
“It would have been a great opportunity to make a step forward in Italy. I do hope that is not the end of the game,” he said, underscoring it would be good for KNDS to have three major pillars in Europe, comprising France, Germany and Italy.<\/p>\n
When asked about potential investors in KNDS, Alary ruled out Rheinmetall, which has pursued diversification while KNDS, he said, is resolved to remain dedicated to producing land systems.<\/p>\n
Airbus and Thales were not being considered either, he said.<\/p>\n
KNDS, meanwhile, aims to name a new chairman in the coming weeks, Alary said, before the potential announcement of a new capital structure.<\/p>\n
“I think the new chairman should be fully involved in the finalisation of this key decision,” he said.<\/p>\n
The company could also start using its French factory capacity to help produce components for weapons built in Germany, Alary said.<\/p>\n
Legal requirements have compelled KNDS to produce KMW and Nexter legacy weapons in the countries where their intellectual property rights are held, creating a major hurdle to the integration of the merged company.<\/p>\n
“We have some scenarios in mind that could make sense and could deliver such manufacturing capacity by 2026,” said Alary, adding that the plans would require clearance by authorities.<\/p>\n
Asked when the first joint KNDS main battle tank will be built – a vehicle to replace the German Leopard and the French Leclerc, which could also be the first joint product of the Franco-German company – Alary said it could be ready sometime between 2032 and 2035.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Joe Bavier)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Sabine Siebold AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Franco-German defence supplier KNDS will decide in the coming months whether to launch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,8387,1824,140582,17459,140583],"class_list":{"0":"post-408198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-german-government","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-jean-paul-alary","13":"tag-knds","14":"tag-krauss-maffei-wegmann"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115169573174872126","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}