Czech arms billionaire Michal Strnad buys $434 million stake in Canada's MDA Space

Czech billionaire Michal Strnad, the owner and chairman of defense manufacturer Czechoslovak Group, has bought a 9.5% stake in Canadian satellite maker MDA Space Ltd., making his company its largest shareholder.

The stake is worth about C$618.5 million ($434 million), Space Intel Report said. CSG did not disclose the price, the number of shares or how it built the position. The holding will sit in a newly created CSG subsidiary, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The deal is Strnad's biggest push yet into the space business, which he described as "one of the fastest-growing parts of defence," according to the Financial Post. CSG said it wants to be a long-term investor and sees room for "potential co-operation" with MDA Space over time, including joint investment in satellite manufacturing or assembly plants in Europe and partnerships on acquisitions.

"MDA Space is a highly respected, well led, profitable and growing space company with exceptional technological capabilities," Strnad said in the statement. "We want to be a long-term strategic shareholder."

MDA Space Chief Executive Mike Greenley welcomed the investment, calling CSG "a leading European industrial group with a proven track record in building high-quality defence businesses," the Canadian Press reported.

MDA Space shares were down 23 Canadian cents at C$39.95 in early afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

A new space team

Brampton, Ontario-based MDA Space builds satellites, space robotics and Earth observation systems and has worked on more than 450 space missions over more than 55 years. It employs more than 4,000 people and is the prime contractor building satellites for Telesat's Lightspeed constellation. In July, it offered to buy a majority stake in French satellite data company Collecte Localisation Satellites for €567 million ($635 million).

CSG has also put together a team to run its space strategy. Ladislav Stahl, a former space adviser at NATO, will lead space strategy and technology, while investment specialist Filip Kocián becomes space director for corporate development. Cameron McKenzie, a Canadian aerospace and defense executive, will advise the group on its expansion in Canada, according to Defence Industry Europe.

The group had already made smaller bets on the sector through its Tech Horizons venture capital fund, which backed British satellite imaging startup SatVu and German space logistics company Atmos Space Cargo.

Ammunition fortune

Strnad, 34, took over CSG from his father, Jaroslav Strnad, and has turned it into one of Europe's largest suppliers of ammunition and military vehicles, a business that grew rapidly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The group, whose brands include Excalibur Army, Tatra Trucks, MSM Group and The Kinetic Group, reported revenue of €6.7 billion ($7.5 billion) in 2025. It plans to produce about 850,000 large-caliber rounds this year, some of them for Ukraine, up from about 550,000 in 2025, according to Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi.

CSG listed its shares on Euronext Amsterdam on Jan. 23 in an initial public offering that raised €3.8 billion ($4.3 billion) at €25 per share. The listing lifted Strnad's fortune to about $37 billion and made him the richest person in the Czech Republic, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at the time.

Rival tracker Forbes puts his wealth far lower, valuing him at $13.2 billion on Oct. 13 and ranking him 239th in the world.