Czechoslovak Group (CSG), one of the Czech Republic’s largest defence manufacturers, has announced its intention to launch an initial public offering on Euronext Amsterdam, seeking to float roughly 15 percent of its shares in the coming weeks and raise around €750 million through new stock. The planned IPO could value the company at as much as €30 billion and make it one of the biggest European defence listings of 2026, underscoring strong investor appetite for defence equities against the backdrop of sustained military spending and geopolitical tension.

For UK companies, the rise of CSG and the wider Czech defence sector signals a practical opportunity to diversify and strengthen supply chains through nearshoring within Europe. The Czech Republic offers a combination of advanced engineering capability, established industrial clusters, and competitive cost structures, supported by a growing ecosystem of specialised suppliers in machining, electronics, software, and precision manufacturing.

As capacity expands and international standards alignment deepens, Czech firms are increasingly well positioned to act as reliable outsourcing and partnership partners for UK defence primes and tier-one suppliers seeking resilience, scalability, and reduced geopolitical risk in their sourcing strategies.

Source: Financial Times

Prepared by the CzechTrade United Kingdom and Ireland team