Nano Dimension offers to buy rest of Stratasys

Nano Dimension just announced that it wants to buy the 85% or so of Stratasys shares it doesn’t already own for about $1.1 billion. You might remember that Nano Dimension disclosed a 12% stake in Stratasys last July, after which Stratasys’ board adopted what some call a “poison pill,” filing a shareholder Rights Plan with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that gives shareholders the right to buy additional shares for $0.01 each, in proportion to their current holdings for each one purchased by any ‘acquiring person’ that owns 15% or more of the company. In other words, Stratasys is trying to keep Nano Dimension (or any other holder of 15% of its shares) from quickly buying the rest.

Nano Dimension is offering $18 per share, a 38% premium to Stratasys’ share price at the close of the trading on Thursday. Nano Dimension sees Stratasys as “a strategic, complementary asset in the relatively mature polymer-based AM market segment. The Proposed Transaction would create a market leader with [an] unparalleled portfolio of materials, software, and deep learning with a go-to-market strength in the form of sales channels. Nano Dimension’s management has held constructive, informal discussions with Stratasys regarding the offer and the merits of the combination.” There’s much more about why the offer makes sense from Nano Dimension’s perspective; read it here.

Stratasys said its Board of Directors “will carefully review and evaluate the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.” 

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Stratasys announced results just a week ago, and they were pretty good. The merger of MakerBot with Ultimaker closed in September, enabling Stratasys to focus on its industrial and manufacturing-scale polymer 3D printing users. Revenue for 2022 ended up being $651 million, up 7% (up 11% in constant currencies) when adjusted for the sale of MakerBot. Outlook for 2023 was cautious, with a revenue forecast that ranged from down 5% to up 3%. The range is so broad because Stratasys is still determining when its proposed acquisition of Covestro’s additive manufacturing materials business will close. Sooner = more revenue; later … you get the idea. The company expected a slow start to the year with “notably higher [revenue growth] in the second half.”