Spain's Indra launches bid on Iveco Defence after German-Italian bidder

Spanish defence company Indra has sent a non-binding offer for the defence activities of Italian group Iveco, according to the daily El Economista, citing market sources. Iveco's unit, which assembles armoured military vehicles, controlled by the Agnelli-Elkann family's Exor holding company, is worth around €1 billion, according to the Spanish newspaper. Indra's bid follows those of Leonardo and Germany's Rheinmetall for Iveco's defence unit, announced last week by Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani with an offer of €1.5 billion. According to reports, Indra's bid would be about half of the value proposed by the Italo-German consortium.

Indra, which is 28% owned by the Spanish state fund SEPI, is set to benefit from the government's plan to increase defence spending by more than €10 billion this year. Iveco Defense Vehicles is a supplier to the Spanish Ministry of Defence, with some of its most important platforms in service and operational, such as the entire fleet of Spanish army trucks.

The two offers meanwhile sent Iveco shares soaring on the stock market (+4.5%), while on the defence stocks front the winds of peace, fuelled by the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and a possible reopening of dialogue between Ukraine and Russia, put the brakes on defence stocks in contrast to the rest of the European stock markets, which are hoping for a revival of dialogue between the US and China: Leonardo (-3.6%) and German Rheinmetall (-3.05% in Frankfurt) stocks are trading in negative territory despite the non-binding offer on Iveco Defence. Also down are Bae System (-3.66 per cent), Saab (-3.23 per cent) and Dassaut Aviation (-3.05 per cent) .