KNDS Raises €262m via Renk Sale as Howitzer Deals Fuel Dual-Listing Ambitions

German-French defence group KNDS targets summer IPO in Frankfurt and Paris, leveraging Renk divestment profits and RCH 155 howitzer orders to scale for European demand.

KNDS is sharpening its pitch to equity markets on two fronts: a €262m cash injection from paring back its stake in transmission specialist Renk, and a growing list of artillery contracts that now stretches to €23.5bn in backlogged orders. The German-French defence group, targeting a summer IPO in Frankfurt and Paris, is betting that operational proof of its RCH 155 howitzer — combined with a tidy profit on a three-year-old investment — will convince investors it can scale fast enough to meet surging European demand.

The Renk sale, executed through an accelerated bookbuild, saw KNDS offload 5.8 million shares at €45.10 apiece. That marked a marginal discount to the prior session’s close but still locked in a handsome return: KNDS had bought in at €15 a share when the transmission maker listed in early 2024. By the close of trading on Wednesday, Renk shares had recovered to €47.74, trimming KNDS’s remaining holding to roughly 10%. The group stressed that the operational relationship remains intact — Renk will keep supplying gearboxes for Leopard 2 tanks and other platforms.

That cash is earmarked to fund capacity expansion ahead of the float. CEO Jean-Paul Alary confirmed the timeline on Friday, with a dual listing targeted before the summer parliamentary recess. But a strong IPO narrative also depends on technology credibility, and here the RCH 155 mobile howitzer takes centre stage.

KNDS management used the GLOBSEC Forum on 21 May to highlight the system’s ability to fire on the move — a critical feature in modern warfare, where quick repositioning after a shot reduces vulnerability to counter-battery fire. Ukraine has already taken delivery of the system, having expanded its initial order from 18 to 54 units, though KNDS is careful to frame this as an operational validation rather than a fresh sales win. The first RCH 155 was handed over in Kassel in January 2025, making Kyiv the system’s first combat user.

The howitzer marries a remote-controlled 155mm/L52 gun with the Boxer armoured wheeled platform, delivering a rate of fire exceeding eight rounds per minute, a range of up to 54km with V-LAP ammunition, and road speeds above 100km/h. That combination is proving attractive as European armies rebuild artillery capabilities after years of prioritising air defence, cyber and lighter forces. The Boxer chassis itself provides a scalable base: more than 2,000 units are already under contract across Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, the UK, Qatar, Australia and Ukraine.

A key endorsement came on 14 May, when KNDS signed a contract for 72 RCH 155 howitzers for the British Army. The deal, handled through ARTEC and OCCAR, adds a major NATO reference. It follows a binational framework agreement between Germany and the UK in December 2025 to qualify the system for both countries.

On the financial side, the Renk divestiture is the clearest sign yet that KNDS is tidying up its balance sheet ahead of the debut. The group posted revenue of €3.8bn in 2024, with a backlog that dwarfs annual sales by a factor of six. For prospective investors, the real question is not whether demand exists, but whether KNDS can translate it into production. The three pillars of the IPO story — combat-proven technology in Ukraine, a concrete UK procurement contract, and the industrial scalability of the Boxer platform — all point to capacity as the critical bottleneck. The €262m from Renk gives management some extra ammunition to address that challenge.