Photo credit: French Ministry of Defense

The Czech defense firm Czechoslovak Group (CSG) has offered to acquire a stake in the Franco-German KNDS group, a major European producer of armored vehicles and artillery.

CSG’s initiative marks yet another attempt to consolidate the European defense industry, but it is likely to face political resistance from Paris and Berlin, News.Az reports, citing Financial Times.

According to the FT, the Czech group has approached the owners of half of KNDS’s shares with an offer to purchase them. The deal involves full or predominantly cash payment, although it is currently unknown whether it will receive shareholder support.

KNDS was established about ten years ago as a result of the merger between the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and the French company Nexter. The group manufactures, among other things, Leopard 2 tanks and Caesar self-propelled artillery systems. The company is also one of the key suppliers of weapons to Ukraine.

Currently, KNDS is owned in equal shares by German shareholders and the French government, making the issue of changing the ownership structure politically sensitive. Paris and Berlin have a direct interest in controlling the company, its production capabilities, and the priorities of its defense programs.

CSG’s proposal came as KNDS was preparing for a potential IPO as early as the beginning of July. The company expects a market capitalization of between 15 and 20 billion euros.

However, the IPO plans are being implemented amid a deteriorating situation in the defense sector’s stock market and internal disputes within German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition over what share of the stock should be bought back from German owners.

CSG, which conducted the largest IPO in the history of the defense industry in Amsterdam, was valued at approximately €30 billion at the time of its IPO. This has encouraged a number of other European defense companies, including KNDS, to consider selling shares amid high investor interest in the sector.

However, CSG’s stock has recently plummeted following allegations from short-seller Hunterbrook. Hunterbrook claimed that CSG allegedly concealed certain information in its IPO prospectus and pointed to a “pattern of incomplete disclosure” regarding the company’s subsidiaries and business practices. CSG has rejected these allegations.

A similar decline is being observed among other players in the defense sector. In particular, Rheinmetall shares, which had been rising rapidly in recent years, have lost about 30% of their value this year due to investor concerns about future sales.

CSG has repeatedly demonstrated interest in major deals. The company lost the battle for Iveco’s defense business, but in 2024 it acquired the ammunition manufacturer Kinetic Group, which includes the Remington brand.

The potential acquisition of a significant stake in KNDS could become the largest and most ambitious deal in the history of the Czech group of companies.a

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli