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Defense contractor Leonardo DRS officially withdraws $670 million IPO in favor of reverse merger with RADA

September 29, 2022
DRS

Leonardo DRS, a US defense electronics provider being spun out of Italian firm Leonardo, withdrew its plans for an initial public offering on Thursday. It had filed to raise $670 million by offering 31.9 million shares (100% secondary) at a price range of $20 to $22, but postponed its IPO in March 2021.

In June 2022, the company announced that it would go public through a reverse merger with RADA Electronic Industries (Nasdaq, TASE: RADA). The transaction is expected to close in the 4Q22, after which Leonardo DRS would be listed on the Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol "DRS."

Leonardo DRS is a leading provider of defense products and technologies that are used across land, air, sea, space, and cyber domains. Its defense systems and solutions are offered to all branches of the US military, major aerospace and defense prime contractors, government intelligence agencies, and international military customers for deployment on a wide range of military platforms.

The Arlington, VA-based company was founded in 1969 and booked $2.8 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020. It had planned to list on the NYSE under the symbol DRS. Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley were set to be the joint bookrunners on the deal.