OHB's Perfect Storm: Record Orders, a €1 Billion Block Trade, and a Governance Fight

OHB's shares halved from 52-week high after KKR's planned stake sale, but the space firm posts record €3.35B backlog and 377% annual gain.

The numbers coming out of OHB's headquarters in Bremen tell a story of operational momentum: a record €3.35 billion order backlog, double-digit revenue growth, and a pipeline that includes a €150 million European Space Agency mission to shadow an asteroid. But on the trading floor, the narrative has turned sharply sour. The shares have shed nearly half their value since hitting a 52-week high of €688 in mid-May, closing last Friday at €372.50 — a 9.15% drop in a single session and a 14% slide over the week.

The culprit is not the business, but the shareholder register. Private equity giant KKR, which owns roughly 29% of OHB, plans to sell around 20 percentage points of that stake into the market — a block trade that could exceed €1 billion in value. Seven banks — Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Berenberg, Commerzbank, Jefferies and UniCredit — are lined up to execute the placement. Yet the market has so little liquidity to absorb it: only about 1.09 million of OHB's 19.2 million shares trade freely, representing just 5.7% of the total. Even modest sell orders can yank the price, and the spectre of KKR's flood keeps institutional buyers on the sidelines.

After the transaction, the free float could jump to roughly 26%. The Fuchs family, OHB's founders, will retain 65% of voting rights, keeping control firmly in private hands. KKR is deliberately keeping the timing of the placement open — in part to avoid clashing with SpaceX's expected initial public offering in mid-June, which is soaking up investor capital across the space sector.

The stock's slide comes despite a staggering longer-term run. Over the past twelve months, OHB has gained 377%. Even after the recent correction, it trades 84% above its 200-day moving average of €203.58, reflecting the hefty premium investors still assign to the European space and defence narrative. That narrative has widened beyond simple supplier status: OHB is now positioned as a building block of continental security infrastructure. The new joint venture KIRK, alongside Helsing, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and HENSOLDT, targets tactical reconnaissance from orbit, with OHB providing end-to-end space systems. A development partnership with Siemens aims to shift space hardware from bespoke projects to repeatable production processes — the kind of industrialisation that could unlock margins.

Yet the company's real-world performance is solid enough to support the thesis. Total output rose 15% in the first quarter of 2026 to €279.3 million, and adjusted EBITDA climbed from €20 million to €27.3 million. The order backlog swelled 45% to €3.35 billion, of which €2.683 billion sits in the Space Systems segment. Management is guiding for €1.4 billion in output this year and more than €2 billion by 2028, with an EBITDA margin target of 11%. The newly commissioned RAMSES mission for the European Space Agency — building and testing a probe to accompany the asteroid Apophis — adds roughly €150 million to the pipeline, with assembly work starting on 4 June.

Next week brings three major events that will test whether the operational story can overcome the share price pressure. On 8 June, OHB holds its annual general meeting — a virtual affair with no physical shareholder attendance. The agenda includes items that have drawn fire from the German Association for the Protection of Securities Holdings (DSW). The association is recommending votes against four resolutions: executive compensation packages that lack individual maximum payments, in breach of the German Corporate Governance Code; and a proposal to authorise the issuance of convertible bonds, options and participation rights with a total nominal value of up to €1.2 billion, alongside conditional capital equalling 20% of current share capital. The DSW warns of a dilution risk of up to 20% and criticises the blanket exclusion of pre-emptive rights for existing shareholders.

One notable item on the AGM ballot is the election of Dr. Theodor Weimer to the supervisory board. Weimer is an executive advisor at KKR, underscoring the private equity firm's ongoing involvement even as it reduces its direct stake. The dividend proposal stands at €0.60 per share, payable on 11 June 2026.

From 10 to 14 June, OHB will be at the ILA Berlin air show, where it plans to unveil new mission contracts — a direct platform to pitch its operational strength to institutional investors. Sandwiched between the AGM and the trade fair is the KKR placement window. If the block trade clears at an acceptable price, the overhang disappears and the free float rises to a level that could eventually support index inclusion. If it stalls, the pressure on the shares will persist, regardless of the record backlog.

Technically, the stock is no longer in overheated territory: the relative strength index has fallen to 45.2, down from the extreme levels seen during the rally. But the 30-day volatility remains above 143%, a level that makes the shares vulnerable to macro shocks — including the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting this week, which will address rising inflation risks. The market is now demanding proof of earnings rather than simply rewarding direction. OHB's ability to convert its order book into cash and profits will determine whether last Friday's rout was a sharp venting of steam or the start of a deeper re-rating.