Czechoslovak Group plans stock-market listing amid Europe defense boom

PARIS — Czechoslovak Group, the Prague-based maker of Tatra military vehicles and one of Europe’s largest ammunition manufacturers, plans to seek a stock-market listing in coming weeks as the company looks to boost international visibility and secure funding for future growth.

The company expects to sell €750 million ($874 million) of new shares, with current shareholder CSG FIN to divest a yet-to-be determined amount of existing shares, CSG said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. The family-owned defense firm is seeking a valuation of about €30 billion, the Financial Times reported , citing people familiar with the deal.

CSG’s planned initial public offering comes less than a month after KNDS, the French-German maker of the Leopard 2 main battle tank, said it was pursuing similar plans . Europe’s publicly traded defense companies have benefited from surging valuations on the back of record European defense spending, helping them attract financing and employees.

“The group stands to benefit from an accelerating trend of global defense spending,” Chairman Michal Strnad said in the statement. “We believe an IPO of CSG would elevate the profile of the group within the international investment community, providing additional financial flexibility and diversity of funding sources to support future growth.”

The company’s expertise in areas including land vehicles, weapons systems, defense electronics, as well as advanced systems for unmanned aerial vehicles and long-range missiles “is closely aligned” with the strategic priorities of customers, Strnad said.

The Czech defense firm is owned by Strnad, who will remain in charge as chairman and CEO. The company’s predecessor was founded in 1995 as Excalibur Army by Jaroslav Strnad, who transferred ownership of what had by then become Czechoslovak Group to his son Michal in 2018.

Michal Strnad, billionaire and owner of Czechoslovak Group AS, also known as CSG, at the International Defence and Security Technologies Fair (IDET), in Brno, Czech Republic, on May 28, 2025. (Milan Jaros/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

CSG plans to apply for listing and trading of its shares in Amsterdam, with the share offering subject to market conditions. The company said it has received investment commitments to the tune of €900 million from Artisan Partners Global Equity Team, a number of Blackrock-managed funds as well as Qatar’s Al-Rayyan Holding.

Europe has seen several defense IPOs since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with German tank-transmission maker Renk listing its shares in February 2024, French night-vision maker Exosens doing the same in June that year, while shares in German naval shipbuilder TKMS started trading in Frankfurt in October 2025.

The STOXX Europe Targeted Defence Index , weighted for the portion of sales its constituent companies get from defense, is hovering near a record level, after rising nearly fivefold in the past three years.

CSG expects its “core addressable market” of Europe and the United Kingdom to grow more than 10% a year between 2025 and 2030. The company says it’s Europe’s second-largest supplier of medium and large-caliber ammunition, and the world’s largest small-caliber ammunition provider.

“The group expects to benefit from a defense spending supercycle, driven by increasing global uncertainty and elevated investments in defense from European and NATO governments, compared to historical levels,” the company said.

CSG reported an order backlog of €14 billion at the end of September, a 69% year-on-year increase, and nine-month revenue of €4.5 billion. The company says its 24% adjusted operating margin beats that of comparable European defense-sector peers.

Europe made up 75% of CSG’s revenue in the period, including Ukraine, which accounted for 26% of the company’s total sales.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——总部位于布拉格的捷克斯洛伐克集团（Czechoslovak Group）是塔特拉（Tatra）军用车辆的制造商，也是欧洲最大的弹药制造商之一。该公司计划在未来几周内寻求上市，以提升其国际知名度并为未来的增长获得资金。

该公司预计将发行7.5亿欧元（约合8.74亿美元）的新股，现有股东CSG FIN将出售数量尚未确定的现有股份。CSG周三在一份电子邮件声明中表示。据《金融时报》援引知情人士消息报道，这家家族式国防企业寻求的估值约为300亿欧元。

CSG计划进行首次公开​​募股（IPO）不到一个月前，法德合资的豹2主战坦克制造商KNDS也宣布了类似的上市计划。欧洲上市国防企业的估值因欧洲国防开支创纪录而飙升，这有助于它们吸引资金和员工。

“集团将受益于全球国防开支加速增长的趋势，”董事长米哈尔·斯特纳德在声明中表示。“我们相信，CSG的首次公开募股将提升集团在国际投资界的知名度，提供更大的财务灵活性和更多元化的融资渠道，以支持未来的增长。”

斯特纳德表示，该公司在陆地车辆、武器系统、国防电子设备以及无人机和远程导弹的先进系统等领域的专业知识“与客户的战略重点密切相关”。

这家捷克国防公司由斯特纳德所有，他将继续担任董事长兼首席执行官。该公司的前身是雅罗斯拉夫·斯特纳德于1995年创立的Excalibur Army公司。2018年，他将当时已更名为捷克斯洛伐克集团的公司所有权转让给了他的儿子米哈尔。

2025年5月28日，捷克斯洛伐克集团（CSG）的亿万富翁兼所有者米哈尔·斯特拉德在捷克共和国布尔诺举行的国际防务与安全技术博览会（IDET）上。（米兰·雅罗斯/彭博社，图片来自盖蒂图片社）

CSG计划申请在阿姆斯特丹上市交易，但股票发行需视市场情况而定。该公司表示，已收到来自Artisan Partners Global Equity Team、多家贝莱德管理的基金以及卡塔尔Al-Rayyan Holding的9亿欧元投资承诺。

自俄罗斯入侵乌克兰以来，欧洲出现了几家国防企业上市，德国坦克变速器制造商 Renk 于 2024 年 2 月上市，法国夜视设备制造商 Exosens 于同年 6 月上市，而德国海军造船厂 TKMS 的股票于 2025 年 10 月在法兰克福开始交易。

根据其成分公司国防销售额占比加权计算的 STOXX 欧洲定向国防指数，在过去三年上涨了近五倍后，目前徘徊在历史高位附近。

CSG预计其位于欧洲和英国的“核心目标市场”在2025年至2030年间将以每年10%以上的速度增长。该公司表示，它是欧洲第二大中大口径弹药供应商，也是全球最大的小口径弹药供应商。

该公司表示：“集团预计将受益于国防开支超级周期，这一周期是由全球不确定性加剧以及欧洲和北约各国政府对国防的投资高于历史水平所推动的。”

CSG公司公布，截至9月底，其订单积压额达140亿欧元，同比增长69%；前九个月营收为45亿欧元。该公司表示，其24%的调整后营业利润率优于欧洲同类国防企业。

在此期间，欧洲占 CSG 收入的 75%，其中乌克兰占该公司总销售额的 26%。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。