According to its own information, the company is the world market leader for non-nuclear-powered submarines, it employs 6,500 people in northern Germany – and it could soon have new owners, including the federal government: The Essen-based industrial group Thyssenkrupp wants to sell the defense division Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), or at least Looking for investors for it. And Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said on Tuesday in Kiel that the government was considering acquiring a minority share. According to a ministry spokeswoman, the review will last until the end of the year.
It is said that Thyssenkrupp is also talking to financial investors about investing, including the US investor Carlyle. One possibility is that such an investor acquires the majority and the federal government and the M-Dax company Thyssenkrupp hold minority shares. TKMS could later go public or merge with a German rival such as Lürssen Werft from Bremen. In this way, the financial investor could sell his shares back into silver.
According to information from South German newspaper If the federal government has been thinking about joining for a long time, the Federal Ministry of Economics, led by Green Party politician Robert Habeck, would ultimately be responsible. Submarines involve sensitive key technologies to which the federal government wants to prevent access by foreign competitors.
Such an interested party from abroad would be the largest European shipbuilder Fincantieri, based in Trieste in northeastern Italy. Its boss Pierroberto Folgiero said in an SZ interview that “any collaboration between TKMS and Fincantieri would create new values from an industrial perspective”: “In any case, we are always available for Thyssenkrupp to look at possible transactions and talk about them.”
The high guarantees put a strain on the group
In addition to submarines, TKMS manufactures frigates, corvettes and systems for recovering old ammunition. The order books are full and the Thyssenkrupp division is benefiting from the turning point in Europe. However, the subsidiary, which was previously called Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), also requires large investments; In addition, Thyssenkrupp must provide billions in financial guarantees to customers so that customers can be sure that the shipyards can finish building the submarines and frigates. Because of these burdens, Thyssenkrupp boss Miguel Ángel López Borrego is looking for a buyer – like his predecessor Martina Merz.
These financial guarantees are also the reason why the federal government would be required as a minority owner following a sale. Without the federal government as a partner, it would be difficult for an independent provider TKMS to provide these guarantees.
The head of IG Metall’s coastal trade union district, Daniel Friedrich, is also calling for rapid state involvement: “We consider state involvement to be essential,” he said recently. TKMS needs the federal government as an anchor investor and a strong customer.
A role model comes from Bavaria
There is a model for an IPO with the support of a financial investor: the defense electronics specialist Hensoldt. The company from Taufkirchen near Munich was originally the radar division of the aerospace group Airbus. In 2017, the American financial investor KKR took over the company and took it public in 2020. The shares are now listed in the M-Dax index, just like the shares of Thyssenkrupp.
Shortly after the IPO, the federal government acquired a blocking minority. The federal government wanted to prevent access by “unfriendly powers,” as it was said. Hensoldt supplies, among other things, technologies for encryption and sensors, especially for the defense industry. Both areas are considered particularly important – just like TKMS’s submarine technology.