BELFAST — The Franco-German armored vehicles manufacturer KNDS announced today that its board of directors has decided to greenlight plans for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Paris and Frankfurt next year.
In a statement disclosing the news, KNDS said that the IPO “will support KNDS’s long-term growth strategy, broadening its access to capital markets and enabling continued investment in industrial capacity, technology and innovation.” The listing is subject to market conditions, it added.
The firm, a joint venture between Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter, amassed an order intake of €11.2 billion ($13.1 billion) in 2024. It produces a wide range of land systems ranging from Leopard 2 main battle tanks, Boxer infantry fighting vehicles, Griffon armored personnel carriers, alongside artillery ammunition and communication systems.
“KNDS’s model, uniting key nations within a single group, embodies the path toward a collective and efficient future for Europe’s defence, driven by one shared goal: to contribute to greater stability and lasting security across Europe and beyond,” KNDS CEO Jean-Paul Alary said in the announcement.
The announcement comes a day after the firm’s German subsidiary and Italy’s Leonardo said they plan on offering the Italian Army a new and jointly developed mobile artillery solution, after officials from both companies signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to move ahead with designing the platform.
The “newly-developed” platform brings together KNDS Deutschland’s artillery gun module or AGM (155mm/L52 howitzer) with an “enhanced version” of Leonardo’s protected wheeled vehicle platform, the two manufacturers said in a joint statement.
“The companies will offer their joint solution for the upcoming procurement program of the Italian Army,” it noted, without disclosing any additional information about the acquisition. Leonardo referred Breaking Defense to the Italian Army for further comment. The Italian Ministry of Defense had not responded at press time.
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“The combination of Leonardo’s state-of-the-art electronics, C5I, UAV defense technologies and new wheeled vehicle platform, together with KNDS’s most advanced artillery system, will significantly contribute to increasing the system’s combat power and effectiveness,” said the statement. Asked if tests or trials of the new solution are planned, a Leonardo spokesperson told Breaking Defense today, “We can’t elaborate on the next steps of development yet.”
As part of the emerging mobile artillery partnership, the German division of KNDS and Leonardo “intend to intensify industrial cooperation to improve supply chain resilience and time to market,” noted the statement.
KNDS Deutschland has previously said that competing demands related to supplies of microchips and armor steel are of concern with respect to main battle tank production, according to a 2024 report [PDF] from the UK based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“Consistently with Leonardo’s strategy, industrial collaboration and synergies allow [us] to strengthen supply chain resilience having more players focusing on shared initiatives,” added the Leonardo spokesperson in correspondence with Breaking Defense. “As per the press release, it also underlines the importance of sustaining interoperability of forces.”
Rome currently operates the PzH 2000 155mm/L52 howitzer, with 70 built under license for the service by Leonardo and Italian counterpart Iveco-Oto Melara Consortium (CIO). The platform is designed and produced by KNDS.
In 2024 Leonardo and KNDS walked away from negotiations to close on a partnership based around joint development and production of the Leopard 2A8 main battle tank after failing to agree on a configuration. As Breaking Defense reported at the time, talks between the two prominent European defense firms had originally opened in December 2023 after they signed an agreement to develop “more intensive cooperation” converging around the stated aim of establishing “a truly European Defense Group.”