Thyssenkrupp Plans Marine IPO Within A Year, Division Head Says

By Wilfried Eckl-Dorna

Nov 15, 2024 (Bloomberg) –Thyssenkrupp AG is planning an initial public offering of its naval shipbuilding unit within a year after plans to sell a majority stake to private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc. collapsed, the division’s chief executive officer said in a newspaper interview.

“We are continuing to pursue the independence of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems,” Oliver Burkhard, the unit’s chief executive officer, told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in an interview published Saturday. “This means we prefer a spinoff, a separation of TKMS via an IPO.” 

As a public offering requires more preparations than a stake sale, the IPO may happen at the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026, Burkhard added. 

A successful divestment, stake sale or spinoff of the marine systems unit would be good news for parent Thyssenkrupp, which is struggling to push through a broader restructuring. 

The naval unit said in October that Carlyle had dropped out of a process to acquire a majority stake of the division, valuing it at about €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), Bloomberg reported in March. Italy’s Fincantieri SpA said in late October that it’s open to forging deeper ties with the unit. The German Government has been assessing the possibility of taking a 50% stake in the division, or even purchasing it entirely, Manager Magazin reported Thursday.

Burkhard told Welt am Sonntag that he wants the German government as an investor as well, a move that can be combined with a spinoff and IPO. The governments of France, Spain, Italy and Nordic countries have stakes in naval shipbuilders. “For Germany, that would absolutely make sense as well,” Burkhard said. 

The naval division remains open for investor offers or partnerships even as it prefers a spinoff, Burkhard said. There is interest from all relevant market participants. 

© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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