A delay in Leonardo’s acquisition of Iveco Group’s defense subsidiary is holding up Rheinmetall’s plan to buy the Italian firm’s military truck business, according to Reuters.
The update follows Italy’s state-backed enterprise Leonardo signing a definitive agreement to acquire Iveco Defence Vehicles alongside the ASTRA military truck division for about 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion).
The deal, first revealed in 2025, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and the separation of assets.
Rheinmetall plans to acquire Iveco’s military truck operations from Leonardo after that transaction is finalized, and had already expected the handover by the end of March, but negotiations cannot begin until Leonardo formally completes its purchase.
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told Reuters the delay stems entirely from the pending Leonardo-Iveco deal.
“The first deal between Iveco and Leonardo had a delay, and then our deal also has a delay,” Papperger said, adding that his firm maintains weekly contact with Leonardo on the matter.
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Iveco’s military truck unit produces a range of logistics and tactical vehicles used by armed forces, including Eurocargo and Modular Military Range trucks in four-wheel, six-wheel, eight-wheel, and ten-wheel configurations, as well as heavy-duty ASTRA chassis designed for specialized military systems.
The sale of Iveco’s defense business forms part of a broader restructuring that also includes the planned 3.8-billion-euro ($4.3-billion) sale of Iveco’s civilian automotive operations to India’s Tata Motors.
Currently, Iveco is engaged with Bucharest for the delivery of 860 tactical trucks for the Romanian Armed Forces under a 2,900-vehicle initiative launched in 2019.
It also holds a separate deal for the supply of 658 trucks to the Italian Army, raising the number of platforms sent to the force in support of a 2024 prime contract to over 2,000, and deliveries through 2039.
