As part of the DAX revision, which will take effect on March 20, crisis-ridden dialysis group Fresenius Medical Care will leave the index, stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse said in a statement.
Rheinmetall had already been a candidate for the index of 40 companies in February but was beaten out by Commerzbank . Shares in the maker of tanks, ammunition and other war equipment hit a record high in January after Germany's decision to send heavy Leopard tanks to Ukraine, which Rheinmetall produces jointly with peer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.
That gave Rheinmetall a valuation of around 10 billion euros ($11 billion), an increase of 2-1/2 times over the past year. FMC's shares have been listed on the DAX without interruption since 1999 but will now be relegated to the mid-cap gauge MDAX .
Since its inception in 1988, the DAX has been Germany's answer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average in New York and the FTSE in London, with its members forming the corporate elite in one of the world's largest economies. Other members of the market gauge with 40 constituents include Siemens AG , Volkswagen AG and Allianz SE .
(Reporting by Miranda Murray and Ludwig Burger in Berlin Editing by Matthew Lewis)
