Drive for German Leos
That’s why tank company Renk is going public
By Katja Michel
September 16, 2023, 1:13 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Renk wants to go public this year. This would be the second time for the Augsburg arms company since 1923. The owner should earn a lot of money with it.
After the traditional brand Birkenstock, the second traditional German company announced its IPO within a few days: The Augsburg gear manufacturer Renk is also planning to go public this year, as the company announced. The goal is an IPO by the end of 2023, depending on market conditions.
Renk is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of drive technology. The defense industry accounts for 70 percent of sales. Whether it’s the German Leopard, the British Ajax or the French Leclerc – all of these tanks have Renk gearboxes, just like they do in naval ships. Although one of the country’s most important defense companies, the company remained largely under the radar until the start of the war in Ukraine. Renk supplies 30 land forces around the world, as well as 40 navies. But Renk technology is also found in wind turbines and heat pumps.
The “turning point” proclaimed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz last year recently gave the company a significant growth spurt: in 2020, sales were 550 million euros, last year they were 850 million euros. For 2023, the Augsburg-based company expects sales of between 900 million and 1 billion euros. “Suddenly the defense industry is perceived positively and is out of the dirty corner,” said CEO Susanne Wiegand recently in an interview with Capital.
Renk, founded in Augsburg in 1873 as a gear workshop, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and employs 3,300 people worldwide. The planned listing would be the second in the company’s history: Renk was already listed on the stock exchange from 1923 to 2020. After several changes of ownership, the financial investor Triton took over the company from the VW subsidiary MAN in 2020 and took the company off the stock exchange. Triton appointed former Rheinmetall manager Wiegand as its new boss. She has been at the top of the company since May 2021. Wiegand described the move to the stock market as the “next logical step on the growth path”.
The step should also be worthwhile for Triton: The investor took over Renk for 700 million euros. In the context of the “turning point” and the planned increases in spending on armaments, the company is now likely to be valued at 2.5 to 3 billion euros, as the “Handelsblatt” reports, citing financial circles. The company says Triton wants to remain the majority owner even after the IPO. Nevertheless, a relevant free float is sought.