MILANO – Shopping in Germany for Leonardo. The public subsidiary has closed an agreement with Square Lux Holding II, indirectly of the private equity fund Kkr, for the acquisition of 25.1% of the German company Hensoldt for 23 euros per share, equal to a total of 606 million euros.
Hensoldt – explains a note – is the leading company in Germany in the field of sensors for defense and security applications, with an ever-expanding portfolio in cyber security, data management and robotics. Once the operation is closed, in the second half of 2021, Leonardo will become the largest shareholder of Hensoldt together with Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (80% of the Federal Republic of Germany).
“Through the investment in Hensoldt, Leonardo will establish a long-term strategic presence in the rapidly growing German defense market”, underlines the note “Already today, Leonardo and Hensoldt have an established partnership that includes collaboration on the Eurofighter Typhoon program as operators independent within the consortium “. A “closer cooperation will be based on a strong complementarity of the two companies in terms of geography, product portfolio, markets, customers and suppliers in the Air, Terrestrial and Naval domains and will allow them to strengthen access to their respective markets, offer complete solutions to their own customers and share best practices for the development of future technologies “. Upon completion of the transaction, Leonardo will propose two candidates to be appointed as members of the Hensoldt Supervisory Body.
“We are excited about the investment in Hensoldt as a catalyst for creating a closer collaboration that will further strengthen their respective positions in the expected growing defense electronics market,” commented Leonardo’s chief executive. Alessandro Profumo.
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