Mutares Puts Magirus in the Shop Window While Racing to Shrink Its Bond Burden

Mutares eyes a lucrative exit from Magirus as order backlog tops €800M, while executing a bond buyback and targeting North American growth after a €6.5B revenue year.

Less than 18 months after snapping up fire-truck specialist Magirus, Munich-based holding company Mutares is already preparing to flip it. The group is weighing either an initial public offering or a full sale of the business, betting that a bulging order book and red-hot demand for defence equipment will fetch top dollar. The playbook is familiar: the Steyr Motors exit generated gross proceeds of more than €170 million over the holding period, and Mutares is hoping for a repeat performance.

The timing is no coincidence. Magirus’s order backlog has swelled to over €800 million, securing factory utilisation well into 2027. Its defence arm, which commands premium valuations in the current market, adds further heft. For Mutares, a successful disposal would provide a much-needed liquidity injection as it scrambles to repair its balance sheet.

A €6.5 Billion Revenue Milestone, but the Market Isn’t Buying

The group’s audited annual report for 2025, finally published after a covenant breach late last year rattled bondholders, paints a picture of operational strength. Consolidated revenue hit €6.5 billion, while EBITDA surged to nearly €675 million — a near-tenfold increase. The certified numbers are a critical confidence signal for creditors, who had to grant a temporary waiver after the company tripped its debt covenants.

Yet the stock market remains unimpressed. Mutares shares trade at around €25, down roughly 16 percent since the start of the year and barely above the issue price of the recent rights offering. In April, the company raised gross proceeds of approximately €105 million through a capital increase, with the bulk earmarked for North American expansion. Mutares already operates a Chicago office and is now planning a second US outpost to pursue an acquisition pipeline valued at nearly €5 billion in revenue.

Bond Buyback Programme Takes Shape

Alongside the equity raise, management is moving aggressively to shrink its debt pile. At the end of last year, the holding company’s outstanding bonds stood at €385 million. The target is to reduce that to a maximum of €300 million by the end of 2026. To get there, the board will launch a tender offer for a partial buyback of the outstanding notes starting May 8, with a minimum of €25 million in repurchases planned per quarter.

The bond investors have already agreed to a temporary suspension of certain financial covenants, buying Mutares breathing room. The company now intends to use proceeds from accelerated portfolio sales to further deleverage. The audited holding-level net profit for 2025 came in at just over €130 million.

Dividend and the Mega-Deal on the Horizon

For the 2025 financial year, the management and supervisory board are proposing a base dividend of €2.00 per share, to be voted on at the annual general meeting on July 3. Should the planned disposals generate significant cash, the board has promised an additional performance dividend.

Looking ahead, Mutares forecasts a holding net profit for the current year of between €165 million and €200 million. A key catalyst will be the closing of the acquisition of SABIC’s Engineering Thermoplastics business — the largest deal in the company’s history. Expected to complete in the second quarter, the transaction will add a segment with billions in revenue to the group. For now, investors are waiting to see whether management can deliver on its exit pipeline and restore confidence in a stock that has been left behind by the operational turnaround.