The Franco-German group is postponing its IPO due to the volatility of the European defense sector.
The Franco-German group KNDS, at the heart of the future MGCS (Main Ground Combat System) tank project, announced Wednesday evening in a press release that it would postpone its IPO while awaiting “the return of more favorable market conditions” in the face of the “volatility of the European defense sector”. The operation, which was to value KNDS between 15 and 18 billion euros, is therefore suspended.
A major operation suspended
This operation, announced a week ago, was to be one of the largest recent IPOs in European defense, with a listing planned in Paris and Frankfurt and a valuation between 15 and 18 billion euros, according to Bloomberg. The company only planned to introduce 20% of its capital on the market and the sale price of the share, which was still the subject of “intense discussions”, according to Jean-Paul Alary, general director of the group, had not been revealed but an operation in July had been mentioned.
KNDS specifies that it has completed most of the steps for an IPO and is engaged in serious discussions with investors who “confirm that they share KNDS’ vision of its differentiated positioning in the industry”. According to the Financial Times, the group was struggling to convince its investors to support an IPO price which would have brought the valuation to more than 12 billion euros.
Created in 2015 by the merger of the French group Nexter, then owned by the French state, and the German KMW (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann), owned by the Bode-Wegmann family, KNDS is one of the key players in the European land defense industry facing American competition (General Dynamics/GDLS).
The announcement of its IPO came two days after that of an agreement between Paris and Berlin on joint governance of this company which supplies tanks, armored personnel carriers, Caesar cannons, very popular in Ukraine, as well as portable bridges and robotic vehicles.
Perspectives and priorities maintained
“KNDS and its shareholders will continue to monitor market conditions closely and stand ready to resume their IPO process when market conditions permit,” the company said in a statement. “KNDS and its shareholders remain completely aligned on their priorities: satisfying its customers, expanding its presence in Europe and accelerating the development of innovative solutions (…) which will strengthen European defense capabilities,” adds the company.
