KNDS to resume its Initial Public Offering process when Capital Markets conditions are supportive

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTIONS IN VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMER AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT.

 

KNDS to resume its Initial Public Offering process when Capital Markets conditions are supportive

 

Amsterdam, 1 July 2026 – In light of current market volatility for the European Defense sector, KNDS N.V. (the “Company” or “KNDS”) announces that its shareholders have informed the Company of their intention to resume the Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) process upon the return of more favorable market conditions.

The Company has completed substantially all required preparation phases for its proposed listing and engaged extensively with investors. These discussions confirmed that investors shared KNDS’ view of its differentiated industry positioning and their belief in KNDS’ long-term strategy.

KNDS benefits from a record and strong order backlog, sustained profitable growth, a robust industrial ramp-up and strong cash generation, all providing long-term visibility and supporting its position as a leading European defense player.

KNDS and its shareholders remain fully aligned on their priorities: delivering for its customers, expanding its European presence and accelerating the development of innovative complete mission solutions that strengthen Europe’s defense capabilities.

KNDS and its shareholders will continue to monitor the capital markets conditions closely and stand ready to resume the IPO process as soon as market conditions allow.

 

About KNDS

KNDS is a leading pan-European land defense company, uniting nearly 11,000 employees and generating €4.4 billion in revenue in 2025. With a strong order backlog of €33.1 billion as of December 31, 2025, the group delivers innovative complete mission solutions built on state-of-the art technologies. Leveraging deep industrial expertise and strong partnerships, KNDS develops open, interoperable solutions combining manned and unmanned systems, designed to meet tomorrow’s operational challenges. As a prime contractor, it provides full system-of-systems capabilities, from platforms to ammunition and services, managing the entire value chain and encompassing complete product life cycles.

Born from the alliance of Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, KNDS embodies the path toward a collective and efficient future for the sovereignty of Europe’s defense by supporting the standardization and interoperability between European and NATO forces.

Trusted by 40+ armies worldwide, including 24 European armed forces, KNDS benefits from decades of combat-proven experience. KNDS embodies a united, efficient model to enhance stability and long-term security in Europe and beyond.

 

MEDIA AND INVESTOR CONTACTS

 

Véronique Creissels, EVP Communications

+33 6 80 06 73 50

Veronique.Creissels@knds.nl

 

Ellen Christin Haehnlein, Head of Investor Relations

investors@knds.nl

 

Brunswick Group: KNDS@brunswickgroup.com

Benoit Grange: +33 6 14 45 09 26

Dr. Philipp Schüler: +49 172 6741644

Charles Pretzlik: +44 7823 527191

 

Important Legal Information and Disclaimer

Disclaimer

This announcement is for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for KNDS N.V. (the “Company” or “KNDS”, and together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) securities in any jurisdiction, including the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. This announcement does not constitute or form part of a prospectus. The information contained in this announcement does not purport to be full or complete and no reliance may be placed by any person for any purpose on the information contained in this announcement or its accuracy, fairness or completeness. If and when the IPO is launched, further details about KNDS, the IPO and admission to listing and trading of its ordinary shares will be included in a prospectus (the “Prospectus”). Once the Prospectus has been approved by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Stichting Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the “AFM”), such approval will be notified to the French Authority of the Financial Markets (Autorité des marchés financiers) and to German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht), and the Prospectus will be published and made available at no cost at the start of the offer period through the corporate website of KNDS (ipo.knds.com), subject to securities law restrictions in certain jurisdictions. No public offering is expected to take place in any jurisdiction. The IPO is expected to consist of private placements to a range of institutional investors in various jurisdictions. If an offer to acquire KNDS securities pursuant to the IPO will be made, any potential investor should make their investment, solely on the basis of information that will be contained in the Prospectus. Potential investors should read the Prospectus before making an investment decision in order to fully understand the potential risks and rewards associated with the decision to invest in KNDS securities. The approval of the Prospectus by the AFM should not be understood as an endorsement of the quality of KNDS or its securities.

 

This announcement is not for release, distribution, or publication, whether directly or indirectly and whether in whole or in part, in or into the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or any other jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction.

 

This announcement is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States. This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale into the United States. KNDS securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), and may not be offered, subscribed, sold or transferred, directly or indirectly, in the United States, except pursuant to registration or an applicable exemption from registration pursuant to the registration requirements of the Securities Act. KNDS has no intention to register any part of the IPO in the United States or make a public offering of securities in the United States.

 

In the United Kingdom, this announcement and any other materials in relation to KNDS securities are being, and will be, distributed only to, and are only directed at, and any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, “qualified investors” (within the meaning of paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 to The Public Offers and Admissions to Trading Regulations 2024) who are (i) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of “investment professionals” in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the Order); or (ii) high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order, and (iii) other persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). Persons who are not relevant persons should not take any action on the basis of this document and should not act or rely on it.

 

KNDS has not authorized any offer to the public of KNDS securities requiring publication of a prospectus in any jurisdiction. With respect to any Member State of the European Economic Area (each a Relevant Member State), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of KNDS securities requiring publication of a prospectus in any Relevant Member State. As a result, KNDS securities may only be offered in Relevant Member States (i) to any person or legal entity which is a qualified investor within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation; or (ii) in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation. For the purpose of this paragraph, the expression “offer of securities to the public” means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the IPO and KNDS securities to be offered so as to enable the investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for the securities and the expression “Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and includes any relevant delegated regulations and amendments thereto.

 

No action has been taken by KNDS or its shareholders that would permit an offer of KNDS securities or the possession or distribution of this announcement or any other offer or publicity material relating to such securities in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required.

 

The release, publication or distribution of this announcement, in whole or in part, in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and therefore persons in such jurisdictions into which they are released, published or distributed, should inform themselves about, and observe, such restrictions.

 

This announcement may include statements, including KNDS’ financial and operational medium- to long-term objectives that are, or may be deemed to be, ‘‘forward-looking statements‘’. These forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including but not limited to the terms ‘‘believes‘’, “aims”, “forecasts”, ‘‘estimates‘’, ‘‘plans‘’, “targets”, “projects”, ‘‘anticipates‘’, ‘‘expects‘’, ‘‘intends‘’, ‘‘may‘’, ‘‘will‘’, “potential”, “goal”, “outlook” or ‘‘should‘’ or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, objectives, goals, future events or intentions. Forward-looking statements may and often do differ materially from actual results. Any forward-looking statements reflect KNDS’ current view with respect to future events and are subject to risks relating to future events and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to the Group’s business, results of operations, financial position, liquidity, prospects, growth or strategies. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.

 

Each of KNDS, its shareholders and their respective affiliates expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update, review or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this announcement whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

 

The price and value of securities may go up as well as down. Persons needing advice should contact a professional adviser.

 

Information in this announcement or any of the documents relating to the IPO cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance.

 

This announcement contains historical market data that has been obtained or derived from industry publications, market research and other publicly available information. Certain information regarding market size, market share, market position, growth rate and other industry data pertaining to the Group and its business contained in this announcement consist of directors’ estimates and conclusions based on their review of internal Group data, external third-party data, reports compiled by professional organizations and other sources.

 

This announcement contains certain financial information and measures that are not defined or recognized under IFRS. Such measures have not been audited or reviewed. KNDS has included these measures because they represent key measures used by management to evaluate the Group’s operating performance. However, these non-IFRS financial measures may not be comparable to those used by other companies under the same or similar names. Reference to these non-IFRS financial measures should be considered in addition to IFRS financial measures, but should not be considered a substitute for results that are presented in accordance with IFRS. In this regard and for purposes of this announcement “order backlog” means the unexecuted portion of all customer orders and contracts that have been recognized as order intake but not yet fulfilled (i.e., delivered or invoiced).

 

KNDS may decide not to go ahead with the IPO at all and there is therefore no guarantee that admission to listing and trading of its ordinary shares will occur. Potential investors should not base their financial decision on this announcement. Acquiring investments to which this announcement relates may expose an investor to a significant risk of losing all of the amount invested.