Germany Plans Major Stake in KNDS Ahead of IPO

Planned IPO of KNDS German Chancellor Merz: "Issued a Mandate to acquire a significant Shareholding."

2026-03-28 From Veronika Maucher 1 min Reading Time

Related Vendors

The German federal government is obviously preparing to take a relevant stake in the French-German tank manufacturer KNDS, which is planning a stock market listing.

German Chancellor Merz: Germany prepares to take a stake in a "large Franco-German defence company, for example specialising in armoured land vehicles." (Archive picture)(Photo: Wiki Commons / Michael Lucan, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE) — German Chancellor Merz: Germany prepares to take a stake in a "large Franco-German defence company, for example specialising in armoured land vehicles." (Archive picture)
(Photo: Wiki Commons / Michael Lucan, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)

“We have just issued a mandate to acquire a significant shareholding from a family in a defence technology company in which France already holds a 50 per cent stake,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) said at an event hosted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He did not mention KNDS by name. Merz referred instead to a “major Franco-German defence company, for example in the field of armoured land vehicles,” which is preparing for an initial public offering. The group, formed from Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and the French state-owned Nexter, plans to list on the stock exchanges in Paris and Frankfurt later this year and could be valued at €20 billion or more. According to insiders, the offering is planned before the summer recess. The decision by the federal government on taking a stake is a prerequisite for this. The two owner families of the former KMW, who together hold 50 per cent of KNDS, intend to use the opportunity to exit.

European defence cooperation is to be strengthened

This forms part of his efforts to foster as many European co-operations as possible within the defence industry. According to earlier media reports, the federal government is preparing to acquire at least a 25.1 per cent stake, which would grant it a blocking minority. To this end, it could purchase at least part of the families’ shareholdings. “We now want to acquire a stake as part of the IPO,” Merz said. According to insiders, the aim is for major German and French shareholders to retain equal stakes thereafter. The Chancellor also generally advocated greater European consolidation in the defence sector. “At the moment, I am really doing everything I can to achieve precisely what we must achieve, namely as many industrial co-operations as possible between the Member States of the European Union,” he said.

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

Business E-mail

Please enter a valid mailadress.

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Date: 08.12.2025

Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy.

Consent to the use of data for promotional purposes

I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7-9, 97082 Würzburg including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here

Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above, including for example specialist journals and books, events and fairs as well as event-related products and services, print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters, raffles, lead campaigns, market research both online and offline, specialist webportals and e-learning offers. In case my personal telephone number has also been collected, it may be used for offers of aforementioned products, for services of the companies mentioned above, and market research purposes.

Additionally, my consent also includes the processing of my email address and telephone number for data matching for marketing purposes with select advertising partners such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. For this, Vogel Communications Group may transmit said data in hashed form to the advertising partners who then use said data to determine whether I am also a member of the mentioned advertising partner portals. Vogel Communications Group uses this feature for the purposes of re-targeting (up-selling, cross-selling, and customer loyalty), generating so-called look-alike audiences for acquisition of new customers, and as basis for exclusion for on-going advertising campaigns. Further information can be found in section “data matching for marketing purposes”.

In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG, I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content. In return for this free access to editorial content, my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here. This does not apply to data matching for marketing purposes.

Right of revocation

I understand that I can revoke my consent at will. My revocation does not change the lawfulness of data processing that was conducted based on my consent leading up to my revocation. One option to declare my revocation is to use the contact form found at https://contact.vogel.de. In case I no longer wish to receive certain newsletters, I have subscribed to, I can also click on the unsubscribe link included at the end of a newsletter. Further information regarding my right of revocation and the implementation of it as well as the consequences of my revocation can be found in the data protection declaration, section editorial newsletter.