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09 Dec 15. Burtin To Resign as Nexter Chair When KANT Is Created. Philippe Burtin will step down as chairman of French land weapons company Nexter Systems when the cross-border KANT joint venture with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is formally created in the next few days, holding company Giat Industries announced.
“On closing day, Mr Philippe Burtin will surrender his group mandates to the board, including that of Nexter Systems,” the state-owned holding company said in a Tuesday
The successor chairman expected to be named is Stéphane Mayer, chief executive of Daher, a privately owned company that builds the TBM training aircraft, an executive said.
“During the meeting of the board of directors of Giat Industries, the decision was made to change the governance of the companies of the group in order to adapt it to its new configuration within the KANT project framework,” Giat said.
KANT, which stands for KMW And Nexter Together, is the project name for the new company, which will be 50:50 held by Nexter and KMW.
The creation of the French-German joint venture relied much on work by the Agence des Participations, the state agency that holds the public ownership in Nexter, said Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of think tank Institut des Relations International’s et Stratégiques.
The joint venture will have combined annual sales of almost €2bn (US $2.2bn), and is seen as marking a step toward European industrial consolidation.
One of the key issues in the creation of KANT has been German political sensitivity over arms exports.
France and Germany said in a joint Wednesday statement on the “strategic cooperation” behind KANT: “Concerning decisions relating to the future of the supply chain and key technology for the joint venture, France and Germany will hold timely consultation with a view to reaching consensus.
“In order to increase the economic efficiency of the joint venture, we will examine the possibilities for improving the framework of conditions and instruments which strengthen competitiveness in the international market.”
Giat, with the Wegmann family holding company, will hold 50 percent of the capital of the new company, which controls 100 percent of the capital of Nexter Systems and KMW. The closing of the deal is expected in the next few days, Giat said. (Source: Defense News)
08 Dec 15. UN clears Greek-seized armoured vehicles for delivery to Libya. The United Nations (UN) has ruled that a shipment of 16 armoured vehicles destined for Libya that were seized by Greece were being legally transferred. Greece announced in July that it had seized the vehicles (eight Streit Group Typhoon 4×4 mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, five armoured Toyota Land Cruisers, two armoured BMW sedans, and one armoured Mercedes sedan) during a port call by the merchant vessel MV Tychy to Piraeus. Greece seized the vehicles believing their transfer was in breach of UN Resolution 1970/2013, paragraph 9 of which bans the trade of weapon systems with Libya. However, the UN has now cleared the vehicles for release, after the internationally recognised Libyan government (in Tobruk) claimed ownership of the vehicles. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
07 Dec 15. Poland receives final Leopard 2A5 MBTs from Germany. Poland has received its final batch of Leopard 2 main battle tanks (MBTs) from Germany, it has been announced. The MBTs, plus 220 additional vehicles, were purchased for EUR187m (USD203m) in November 2013 from ex-German Army stocks to equip the 34th Armoured Cavalry Brigade, based in Zagan.
Speaking to IHS Jane’s, Captain Rafal Nowak from 34th Brigade said, “On 28 November we received the last tranche of Leopard 2A5 tanks. Now the brigade is fully equipped with 14 Leopard 2A4 and 105 newer 2A5 MBTs. We expect that all remaining vehicles, including trucks a