By Sabine Siebold

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Franco-German defence supplier KNDS will decide in the coming months whether to launch an initial public offering next year, CEO Jean-Paul Alary said on Monday, and suggested the German government might take a stake in the company.

Speaking to reporters in Amsterdam, Alary said KNDS’s board had told him to be prepared for an IPO but that a final decision had not yet been taken.

“As a first step, I cannot see … a reference shareholder that will not be a German shareholder,” Alary told Reuters following the press conference in Amsterdam.

Asked whether this meant that the German government might take a stake in KNDS, he said: “It makes sense that there is a first step like that.”

Alary, who took over as CEO in April, confirmed KNDS had held talks wi

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