Rheinmetall could land the largest order in the company's history.

Italy wants to order the Panther main battle tank developed by Rheinmetall as well as the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle, the "Handelsblatt" reported on Wednesday, citing industry circles. The order, which will run for 15 years, is said to be worth around 20 billion euros. Part of this is earmarked for the maintenance of the combat vehicles. According to the plans, Italy wants to purchase at least 350 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles and more than 200 Panther main battle tanks. Rheinmetall would not comment on the report, but would not deny it either, said a spokesperson. "We will explain ourselves in due course," he added.

(Report by Matthias Inverardi, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)