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Renk boss Susanne Wiegand with Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU)

Photo: Christof Stache / AFP

The transmission manufacturer Renk, which equips tanks, frigates and icebreakers with its technology, is making up for its failed IPO in October with the help of important supporters. Tank builder and major customer KNDS is to come on board as an anchor shareholder. The manufacturer of the “Leopard 2” tank is subscribing to Renk shares alone for 100 million euros in the private placement and has the right to later increase the shareholding to 25 percent.

For the defense company KNDS, which was created in 2015 through the merger of the German military vehicle manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and the French state defense company Nexter Systems, joining Renk is more than just an investment. “We want to ensure that Renk remains independent,” said a KNDS spokesman, explaining the commitment. "Renk is one of our most important suppliers." The tank manufacturer therefore has the right to send a representative to the Renk supervisory board and can later increase its stake from 6.7 to 25 percent, at a price above the issue price.

The owner of Renk, the financial investor Triton, wants to raise a total of 450 million euros, as the company announced on Monday in Augsburg. The shares are offered at a fixed price of 15 euros. Renk is valued at around 1.5 billion euros, 30 percent of the securities would come into new hands. The shares are scheduled to be traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for the first time on Wednesday.

First IPO of the year in Germany

Among other things, Renk also produces gearboxes for vehicles and ships, as well as for industrial plants, where they are used, for example, in heat pumps. Couplings, plain bearings and testing systems for turbine gearboxes, for example, are also part of the product portfolio. According to its own information, the company serves customers in the defense industry as well as in civilian end markets. In view of the upgrade, the company is currently experiencing a boom. In 2022, the company generated sales of 849 million euros.

Renk could now claim the first IPO of this year in Germany – and one of the first in Europe. Recently, investment bankers had regained courage that a window for new issues could open after investors had, with a few exceptions, held back on IPOs for two years. Athens Airport had its shares priced at the upper end of the price range on Friday. In Germany, according to insiders, the cosmetics chain Douglas is preparing to go public. Douglas and the majority owner CVC are targeting March for the billion-dollar initial listing, said several people familiar with the plans.

At Renk's stock market debut, institutional investors have two days to subscribe for up to 30 million shares. As is usual with such lightning placements, private investors are left out. In addition to KNDS, the US asset manager Wellington Management has also committed to buying Renk shares for 50 million euros. A third of the issue is thus secured. After just an hour, one of the accompanying banks reported that there were purchase offers for more than 450 million euros.

kig/Reuters/dpa-AFX