There are now two contenders in pole position for Iveco Defence: on the one hand the confirmation of interest from Leonardo in joint venture with Rheinmetall, on the other hand, she came forward the Spanish Indra who sent anon-binding offer for the defense activities of the Iveco group, as reported by the newspaper The Economist, citing market sources.
The two offers have meanwhile made the Iveco title on the stock exchange which after a rise of 4,5% yesterday, this morning is still at +1,79% against a Ftse Mib at +0,24%.
Indra, which is 28% owned by Spanish state fund SEPI, is set to benefit from the government's plan to increase defense spending by more than 10 billion euros this year. Iveco Defense Vehicles, which is controlled by the holding Exor of the Agnelli-Elkann family and assemble Armored military vehicles, is a supplier to the Spanish Ministry of Defense, with some of its most important platforms in service and operational, such as the entire fleet of trucks of the Spanish Army.
Iveco Defence: Leonardo and Rheinmetall have put approximately 1,5 billion on the table
Indra's offer follows that of Leonardo and Germany's Rheinmetall for Iveco's defense unit, announced last week by Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani with a bid of 1,5 billion euros. According to what has been learned, Indra's offer would be approximately half the value proposed by the Italian-German consortium. For Iveco Defence Vehicles "we have presented a non-binding offer together with Rheinmetall”, explained Leonardo's CEO last May 8, Roberto Cingolani, during the conference call to present the results of the first quarter of 2025. “We intend to make exclusively an industrial, non-financial investment,” the top manager specified. “We are not willing to spend more than the fair price to make this possible acquisition,” he added.
The Golden Power instrument remains on the table
In any case, the Golden Power remains in place on the operation, the instrument in the hands of the government to prevent the sale of valuable pieces (and with characteristics that could compromise the sovereignty of the country) without the necessary approval of Palazzo Chigi. For this reason, for months Elkann deals with the government, considering that a large-scale rearmament of Italy must be planned within the system of European architecture that risks, like never before, being deprived of the American protective umbrella.
Goldman Sachs, the investment bank advising Iveco on the dossier, had also received other dossiers in the past, presented by the Franco-German alliance Knds, the Czech group Csg and the British giant Bae Systems.
