France privatizes Nexter, maker of AMX Leclerc

Defense News is reporting that the French Government has voted to privatize the state owned land weapons manufacturer Nexter.  Nexter is the producer of the AMX:Leclerc MBT.  This move is seen as one of the steps in forging a partnership between Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.  This new joint holding company would be named KMW And Nexter Together, or KANT, and it would be a European leader in land armaments with annual sales of almost US $2.2 billion.  At the July 9 board meeting of Giat, the state-owned holding company of Nexter, 12 out of 18 board members voted in favor of the link-up, while three trade union representatives abstained and three voted against.  It has been reported that one of the goals of this partnership will be to create the next generation of European MBT.

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