British Howitzer Order Strengthens KNDS’s Hand as €20bn IPO Battle Intensifies

German-French defense group KNDS lands a £1bn UK contract for 72 howitzers, targets €20bn IPO in Frankfurt and Paris amid ownership struggles and capacity expansion efforts.

The road to the Frankfurt and Paris bourses for KNDS just got a hefty paving stone. The German-French defence group has landed a contract from the UK Ministry of Defence worth nearly £1bn for 72 RCH 155 wheeled howitzers, a deal that underscores the surging demand for artillery across Europe. Simultaneously, the company is advancing plans for a market debut that would value it at around €20bn, though a tangled ownership struggle and capacity bottlenecks threaten to slow the momentum.

The British order, placed via the ARTEC joint venture in which KNDS partners with Rheinmetall, will be managed in cooperation with European procurement agency OCCAR. Each RCH 155 system, capable of firing eight rounds per minute at targets up to 70 kilometres away, replaces AS90 units donated to Ukraine in 2023. The package includes initial training and in-service support, while KNDS UK will manufacture the BOXER drive module in Stockport, safeguarding at least 500 domestic jobs. First deliveries are expected in 2028, with an initial operational capability targeted before the end of the decade.

Behind the headlines, KNDS is scrambling to match its factory capacity with the orders rolling in. The company is in talks to acquire production sites from Mercedes-Benz in Ludwigsfelde near Berlin and from Volkswagen in Osnabrück. The Mercedes plant, where Sprinter chassis assembly is slated to shift to Poland by 2030, could host new assembly lines fed by roughly €1bn in investment. Around 2,000 workers may transfer to KNDS if the deal goes through. The VW site in Osnabrück is also under consideration, reflecting a broader push by defence contractors to tap into automotive manufacturing expertise, skilled labour, and existing infrastructure.

That industrial expansion dovetails with KNDS’s IPO ambitions. The company has formally mandated Lazard to manage its dual listing in Frankfurt and Paris, targeting a valuation of €20bn — a figure backed by an order backlog that had swollen to €23.5bn on annual revenue of €3.8bn. To strengthen the financial side ahead of the listing, Christian Schulz, formerly chief financial officer at Renk Group, has joined the supervisory board.

Yet the ownership structure remains messy. The French state already holds 50% of KNDS, and Berlin is keen to acquire an equivalent stake to balance bilateral influence. That plan has been complicated by a cash offer from German munitions maker CSG to the domestic family shareholders. The competing bid has put pressure on negotiations between the government and the existing owners, with no resolution yet in sight.

The next concrete milestone falls in May 2026, when KNDS expects to complete and audit its 2025 financial statements. Those audited numbers are a prerequisite for institutional investors to assess the group’s organic growth and profitability against industry peers. Until then, the interplay of state interests, private bidders, and factory-floor reality will determine whether the IPO can hit its ambitious summer window.