Business & Markets
Germany to buy half of KNDS for €6.64bn, source says
The German government is set to pay 6.64 billion euros, or $7.4 billion, to acquire a 50 percent stake in French-German defence group KNDS, a parliamentary source told AFP on Tuesday.
The deal would cover shares now held by the Bode-Wegmann family and follows the scrapping of plans for an IPO of the company.
A German government source earlier told AFP that buying the stake in the maker of Leopard tanks and other equipment aims to put Berlin “on equal footing” with the French government, which already owns half of KNDS.
Update
A parliamentary source said the German government is set to pay 6.64 billion euros for a 50 percent stake in KNDS.
The planned purchase follows the scrapping of plans for an IPO of KNDS.
A German government source said the move aims to put Berlin on equal footing with the French government, which already owns half of KNDS.
Source note: AFP news report published on 10 November 2026 at 13:27:55 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
The supplied information attributes the purchase plan and price to a parliamentary source; it does not state that the transaction has been formally completed.
Source
AFP news report published on .