Germany’s largest armaments group Rheinmetall is about to take over the marine division of the Bremen shipyard group Lürssen.
Rheinmetall said in Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf, said that the essential conditions were agreed and will formally complete the transaction at short notice. If the antitrust authorities agree, the takeover of the Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL) could be carried out in early 2026.
Notification of disclosure was agreed at the purchase price. In view of the billions in sales of both companies, a huge sum should flow to the Lürssen owners. According to the information, NVL has around 2,100 employees, in 2024 sales were around one billion euros. In addition to the headquarters in Bremen, there are shipyards in Wilhelmshaven (Lower Saxony), Hamburg and Wolgast (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). There are also locations in Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt and Brunei. NVL builds ships for Germany’s marine and the navy of other countries as well as for authorities.
According to its own statements, Rheinmetall has around 40,000 employees at 174 locations. In 2024, sales were 9.8 billion euros. On the stock exchange, too, the weapons smithy went up steeply thanks to the increased demand and the brilliant economic outlook. Since the eve of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the course of the Rheinmetall share has roughly exposed.
On February 23, 2022 and thus immediately before the start of the war, their closing price was 96.80 euros.
The deal with Lürssen is no longer a surprise after speculation about it for a long time. Since both sides have agreed silence at the purchase price, the financial effects from the perspective of stock dealers are difficult to assess. Industry expert Chloe Lemarie from the Jefferies analysis house estimates the purchase price without considering debts to 1.5 to 2 billion euros.
Weapons smithy sets sail
So far, the Düsseldorf -based company has not manufactured any ships, but above all armaments for the land forces, such as tanks, artillery or air defense. As a supplier, the company is also involved in the production of the US combat jet F35, and the arms smithy also manufactures drones and soon also military satellites. Now the armaments group, which is on a steep growth course in view of the Ukraine war and hurts from one record to the next in terms of sales and order stock, to a certain extent.
The navy already uses ship guns and laser modules from Rheinmetall, in the future it will also be ships – provided the deal will take place as expected. “In the future we will be a relevant player in the country, water, in air and in space,” said Rheinmetall boss Armin Papperger. “Rheinmetall is thus developing into a cross-domain system house.”
In addition, the consolidation of the German defense industry is driven forward. “In connection with the Rheinmetall competencies, we create a vital German strength center for state -of -the -art over -watered ships – a powerhouse,” said Papperger. In the maritime area, too, military enforcement capability is increasingly important.
At Lürssen there is a company that builds yachts. This company has around 2,000 employees. The head of the investment company, Friedrich Lürßen, said: “We are pleased to have found a trusting and strong partner with Rheinmetall, which NVL and its employees can secure a successful future.” One wanted to pave the way for the politically desired consolidation in the German defense industry for a long time. This consolidation is necessary and sensible against the background of the tightened threat situation. “This is the only way to ensure that our country is able to defend a quick ability to defend.”
Rheinmetall share with a record
The shares of Rheinmetall climbed to a record high on Monday after a takeover became known. With a plus via Xetra of the end of 2.82 percent to the record of 1,950 euros, the armaments group continued its latest upward trend. In the Rheinmetall keel water, the recently weakening titles of the industry colleagues Hensoldt and Renk in the MDAX once again went up to EUR 95.80 and 2.55 percent to EUR 72.39. All three titles are at the forefront of their indices so far.
Rheinmetall and Hensoldt have tripled their stock market value in 2025, Renk even almost quadrupled.
Rheinmetall agreed with the Bremen Werftengruppe Lürssen on a purchase of their military division NVL. With the acquisition of the shipbuilter, the company would like to position itself wider and open up the marine area as an additional business area. The transaction is no longer a surprise after speculation about it for a long time. However, it fits perfectly with the industry in view of the ongoing global wars and conflicts.
Since both sides have agreed silence at the purchase price, the financial effects of the deal for Rheinmetall dealers are difficult to assess. Jefferies analyst Chloe Lemarie meanwhile believes that NVL is reducing a percentage of double-digit margin and there is ambition to increase them, including synergies, to the middle ten-up area. On this basis, it assumes a span of 1.5 to 2 billion euros without considering debt.
The DZ Bank took Rheinmetall from its “Equity Long Ideas” recommendation list. With a fair value of 1,985 euros, analyst Holger Schmidt still sees some room for improvement and therefore continues to buy.
According to the expert, the business prospects of the Düsseldorfers remain positive in the medium to long term. With the strategically sensible purchase of the NVL shipyard, Rheinmetall “complements the previously only partially existing spectrum of modern system components, simulation solutions and maritime protection systems and extends its portfolio strategically to naval shipbuilding”. However, shipbuilding as a major project business with longer throughput times and tends to be more risks have a different characteristics than the previous activities, which would not necessarily be compensated for by greater profitability.
Warburg analyst Christian Cohrs therefore also carefully looks at the deal. The naval shipbuilding is complex and is “not part of the core DNA of Rheinmetall”. This reveals doubts as to whether the armaments group is the best possible owner for NVL. Expansion to new industries Berges the risk of watering down the strategic focus and the overall risk profile of the Rheinmetall Group increases.
Analyst David Perry from the US bank JPmorgan also emphasized that the construction of naval ships is one of the risky areas of the defense industry and differed significantly from vehicle construction. In addition, margins are often lower than with other armaments products. Assuming that the previously known takeover price is acceptable, Perry estimates the deal as a whole. Rheinmetall continues to diversify, which also fits the latest efforts in the satellite business.
Rheinmetall is one of the largest profiteers of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and its geopolitical consequences at the financial markets.
A few days before the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, the shares were still under 100 euros and have since been exposed to the time – after the Rally, the IPO has been almost 90 billion euros in recent years. Rheinmetall is one of the most valuable companies in Germany. Before the Ukraine declarer, the group was below less than five billion euros below.
For Thyssenkrupp, meanwhile, 4.23 percent went up to 10.96 euros. DZ-Bank analyst Schmidt pointed out that Thyssen’s marine division TKMS is already connected to Lürssen in a joint venture, which now automatically makes Rheinmetall a partner and should shift the balance of power. “Structurally, this could mean that for TKMS that the role in over-water shipbuilding continues to weaken and that the company is more focused on the submarine business,” Schmidt wrote.
/MK/DP/ZB
Düsseldorf/Bremen (dpa-AfX)
Image sources: Postmodern Studio / Shutterstock.com, Tobias Arhelger / Shutterstock.com