Leonardo DRS files IPO registration

Arlington defense company intends to go public

Published March 1, 2021 by Sydney Lake

The Italian federal defense contractor Leonardo announced Friday it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an planned initial public offering (IPO) of its U.S. subsidiary, Arlington-based Leonardo DRS.

The $2.54 billion IPO could take place in March, according to reports from Reuters. Leonardo did not release the official amount of the IPO.

“By retaining our majority shareholding we intend to maintain a significant exposure in this strategically important market, whilst continuing to leverage established relationships for all of Leonardo’s businesses,” Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo said in a statement.

The company intends to list a minority stake of Leonardo DRS on the New York Stock Exchange using the ticker symbol DRS, Profumo added. 

After the completion of the offering, Leonardo US will remain the majority shareholder of Leonardo DRS. It’s anticipated the company will enter a proxy agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to allow Leonardo DRS to continue to compete and perform on classified programs.

Leonardo released a Feb. 19 statement saying it was considering the IPO.

Leonardo DRS is the largest U.S. subsidiary of the Italian defense/aerospace conglomerate and is a military defense tech contractor with $2 billion in annual revenue. The company works with customers including the U.S. Army, Navy and intelligence community. In 2020, the company won a $120 million U.S. Navy contract to provide engineering design and software testing for aircraft protection systems.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, BofA Securities Inc. and J.P. Morgan will serve as lead book-running managers and Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley will act as book-running managers for the proposed offering. Mediobanca is serving as financial adviser to Leonardo.

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