Military vehicle venture

The new company, to be headquartered in Munich, will be 51 per cent owned by Rheinmetall with MAN taking the remaining 49 per cent.

According to a joint statement, the new company will provide complete solutions in the market for military land vehicles, including armoured and unarmoured transport, command and role-specific vehicles for international customers.

The new company will initially merge the development and sales activities of Rheinmetall and MAN.

The second stage of the merger will see the two companies’ production capacities at plants in Kassel and Vienna integrated into the joint company by the end of 2011.

In the initial phase, RMMV will have around 370 employees; when the second step has been completed this will increase to around 1,300 employees, whose annual turnover is expected to amount to more than €1bn.

‘The new company follows the trend towards the joint acquisition of logistical and tactical military vehicles, whose protective and mobility characteristics have become highly similar because of current operational conditions,’ said Klaus Eberhardt, chairman of the executive board of Rheinmetall.