Warship builder TKMS will make its stock market debut in Frankfurt on Monday, the latest move by parent Thyssenkrupp to simplify its structure and take advantage of growing demand globally for defence assets.
Shares in the company will start trading around 07:00 GMT on Frankfurt's stock exchange in a spin-off from Thyssenkrupp that will see the German conglomerate keep a 51 per cent stake in TKMS, with the rest being distributed to its investors.
TKMS, which traces its roots back 187 years, is the world's largest builder of non-nuclear submarines, frigates and underwater technology including mine-sweeping systems, at its Atlas Electronics division.
Parent Thyssenkrupp is spinning off TKMS as it tries to cash in on soaring demand for defence equipment in light of Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine and US pressure on Europe to take military matters into its own hands.
It also coincides with deliberations by Franco-German defence supplier KNDS over an initial public offering in the coming months, reflecting soaring investor appetite for defence pure plays.
TKMS, which employs more than 9,100 staff globally, last month held its first capital markets day, releasing margin targets that some investors said were not ambitious enough when compared with rivals such as Britain's BAE, Germany's NVL and France's Naval Group.
Initially starting out as a maker of steam engines and railroad cars in the early 1800s, later iterations of the company made Germany's first submarine, the so-called Brandtaucher, as it sought to better compete with Denmark's navy.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)