From Minivans to Howitzers: KNDS Secures Auto Plants and a Canadian Artillery Bid Ahead of Dual Listing

KNDS scales production using idle Mercedes and VW plants, enters Canadian artillery race, and posts record orders ahead of a June 2026 dual-listing IPO.

The German-French defence contractor KNDS is racing to scale up production just as its IPO preparations enter the final stretch — and it is finding unlikely allies in the struggling automotive sector. While negotiations with Mercedes-Benz over its Ludwigsfelde plant near Berlin advance, the company has also surfaced in a Canadian artillery competition with a system that could open a new North American sales channel.

The Ludwigsfelde site, home to around 2,000 workers currently building the Vito van, is earmarked for a dual-use transition: civilian and military production would run in parallel initially, with the Boxer armoured vehicle eventually rolling off the line. Parallel talks with Volkswagen over the Osnabrück factory have been described by VW chief Oliver Blume as “promising.” The logic is clear — a booming defence industry is absorbing the spare capacity of a battered car sector, and KNDS is moving quickly to lock in the factory floor space it desperately needs.

Across the Atlantic, General Dynamics Land Systems Canada has thrown the Grizzly LAV into the ring for Ottawa’s indirect fire modernisation programme. The platform mates a modified LAV 6.0 chassis with KNDS Deutschland’s RCH-155 turret — the same artillery module already proven on the Boxer. The gun fires more than eight rounds per minute, reaching 40 kilometres with base-bleed ammunition and 54 kilometres with V-LAP. Although no purchase contract has been signed, the mere appearance of KNDS technology in a North American procurement debate reinforces the growth narrative ahead of the company’s expected dual listing in Frankfurt and Paris.

KNDS can back that story with numbers. Revenue for 2025 climbed nearly 16 percent to €4.4 billion, while operating profit jumped from €500 million to €661 million — a margin of 15 percent. The order intake surged to €13.5 billion, and the year-end order backlog hit a record €33.1 billion. With more than 40 armed forces as customers, including users of the Leopard 2 and Caesar howitzer, the company already dominates European heavy land systems.

To finance the production ramp-up, KNDS executed a €262 million block trade in mid-May 2026, selling 5.8 million shares of the drive specialist RENK at €45.10 apiece. That reduced its holding in RENK to roughly 10 percent. The cash injection helps fund the factory conversions and the broader industrial expansion.

The political architecture for the IPO is now largely in place. The German state-owned development bank KfW will take a strategic 40 percent stake, mirroring the 40 percent already held by the French government. Both sides plan to gradually reduce their holdings to 30 percent over two to three years, providing a stability umbrella as the founding Wegmann family exits. Analysts value KNDS at €18–20 billion ahead of a June or July 2026 flotation.

For potential investors, the twin developments — a Canadian artillery bid and the absorption of idle automotive plants — are more than operational updates. They signal that KNDS is not just riding a European rearmament wave but actively building the industrial capacity and international footprint needed to sustain it. The Grizzly strengthens the case for structurally rising artillery demand; the factory deals show how the company intends to meet it.