People familiar with the situation say the family that holds 50% of KNDS is in discussions to sell most of that position after Germany came back with a new offer. The scenario on the table would see the family sell as much as 40% and retain a 10% slice, effectively pausing an initial public offering in the near future. The French state owns the rest of KNDS.
The owners had been angling for dual listings in the French and German capitals later this year, but weakness in European defense names led them to push a summer listing attempt. Europe's IPO window still looks patchy, and more would-be debutants are exploring mergers instead as investor appetite softens. In recent weeks, takeover suitors have surfaced for Monzo Bank Ltd. as well as Odido, the Dutch telecom operator, both of which had earlier been linked to possible IPOs. Shares of ammunition maker CSG NV, viewed as a close peer to KNDS, are down 42% since it listed in Amsterdam in January.
Defense ownership is being reshuffled across Europe as military budgets expand. Market Briefs tracks those deals free every morning.
Talks have tilted toward a transaction with the German government, marking a shift from an earlier track. According to a report from Bloomberg News last week, the family's investment arm, Wegmann & Co., was in talks with Warburg Pincus about a deal structure under which the private equity firm would acquire a sizable minority stake alongside the German state. The current deliberations are still in motion and nothing is set, according to people who asked not to be named because the talks are private.
Representatives of Wegmann and of the German government declined to comment, while a KNDS spokesperson did not respond right away, leaving the outlook unclear. A sale to Germany would be a notable change in direction from an IPO and would come against a backdrop of a tricky European listings market and weak comps in the space.
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