KNDS, the Franco-German defense giant behind the Leopard 2 and Leclerc tanks, is finding out that building armored vehicles is easier than building investor confidence. The company’s planned IPO, once expected to command a valuation north of €20 billion, has seen its target slashed to roughly €15 billion as institutional buyers push back on the deal’s structure.
Here’s the thing: KNDS isn’t struggling because of weak fundamentals. The company posted €4.4 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2025, a 16% year-over-year jump, alongside €661 million in EBIT and €980 million in free cash flow. It sits on a record order backlog of €33.1 billion.
KNDS was born in 2015 from the merger of Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter, the latter owned by the French state through GIAT Industries. The IPO is structured as a secondary sale of approximately 20% of existing share capital, meaning no new shares will be issued and no fresh capital flows into the company itself.
After the listing, GIAT (representing the French state) and KfW (representing the German state) are each expected to hold 40% of the company. That leaves just 20% as free float available to public investors. Two governments will control 80% of a publicly traded company, and investors are being asked to buy the remaining sliver.
