JOHANNESBURG—Saudi Arabia has made a $1 billion bid for a broad partnership with South African state-owned defense group Denel that would include acquisition of a minority stake in a joint venture with Germany’s Rheinmetall, a source familiar with the offer said.
Currently heavily dependent on imports, Saudi Arabia, the world’s third-largest defense spender, is seeking partnerships to develop its own domestic defense industry with the goal of localizing half of its military spending by 2030.
