German satellite manufacturer OHB has signalled it may pursue legal remedies if European Union competition regulators approve a proposed consolidation of the satellite businesses of Airbus, Thales and Leonardo, the company said on Thursday.
The three defence and aerospace groups revealed plans in October to fold their satellite-making activities into a single standalone firm, referred to internally as Project Bromo. Their stated aim is to form a larger European competitor that backers say can better take on international rivals such as SpaceX and firms from China.
OHB, which remains one of the few independent satellite builders on the continent, argued the transaction could reduce competition inside Europe and have concrete operational consequences for its own business.
"We are raising concerns because it impacts our supply chain," OHB chief Marco Fuchs told Reuters, characterising the merger as "rather a disturbance of the market". When asked explicitly whether OHB would pursue legal action if the European Commission cleared the combination, Fuchs replied: "Yes."
For antitrust regulators, the central question will be whether the new company would primarily leverage its enlarged scale to challenge rivals globally - as proponents contend - or whether it would strengthen the participating firms' position within Europe, reducing domestic competition.
Fuchs dismissed comparisons with Chinese suppliers in the context of European procurement, noting that Europe does not buy satellites from China. Meanwhile, OHB’s market capitalisation has grown roughly fivefold over the past year to about 5 billion euros.
On the operational front, OHB reported an 18% increase in quarterly revenue and said its order backlog had climbed 45%.
The company is exploring financing alternatives after scrapping an earlier plan to take OHB private with minority investor KKR, a move Fuchs said was altered by shifting geopolitical perceptions of space-related businesses. Bloomberg News reported in March that the Fuchs family, which owns around 65% of OHB, and KKR, which holds roughly 29%, were discussing the sale of shares equivalent to about 20% of the company; Fuchs declined to comment on that report.
Responding to questions about a possible share sale, Fuchs stated: "I’m not going to sell anything in a secondary (share sale)," while he did not disclose any target amount OHB intended to raise as it considers its financing path forward.
Context and implications
The dispute frames a tension between consolidation to build scale and the preservation of independent suppliers within an industrial supply chain. OHB’s objections focus on direct, tangible impacts to its procurement and market access should three major European suppliers combine forces into a single entity.