Hexagon and Cadence complete transfer of design & engineering business
Superquick. Blizzard bearing down, may lose power (but warm and cozy so far).
Hexagon and Cadence just announced that completion of the sale of Hexagon’s Design & Engineering business (D&E) to Cadence, for a total of around €2.7 billion: something like €1.9 billion in cash and 3.2 million shares of Cadence common stock.
As a reminder, Hexagon is reinventing itself to focus on its core offerings —precision measurement, positioning, and robotics solutions, including the software associated with those business lines—but no longer the engineering and design products. Hexagon said that it intends to use proceeds from the transaction for general corporate purposes, which “may include de-leveraging and funding future acquisitions aligned with the strategies for long-term profitable growth at both Hexagon and Octave, which, if approved, remains on track to be separated during the first half of 2026.”
Cadence, on the other hand, sees the acquisition as “[accelerating its] Intelligent System Design strategy by combining its compelling multiphysics portfolio with Hexagon D&E’s leadership in structural analysis, acoustics, and multibody dynamics. The integration of Hexagon D&E’s flagship MSC Software solutions—including MSC Nastran and Adams—with Cadence’s leading multiphysics portfolio spanning electronics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and BETA CAE’s structural pre and post processing technologies, will enable Cadence to deliver a comprehensive end-to-end multiphysics simulation platform —elevating the industry standard for integrated design and analysis solutions and enabling more seamless system level innovation.”
Cadence CEO Anirudh Devgan said the “acquisition marks a major milestone in advancing our vision for intelligent system design. By combining our industry-leading computational software and AI-driven design expertise with MSC Software’s world-class structural and physics-based analysis technologies, we’re empowering customers to push the boundaries of what’s possible—from autonomous systems and advanced robotics to the future of transportation.”
Did you notice: several mentions of “MSC Software.” I hope they bring the brand back to life!
Cadence expects the former D&E to add $160 million to its 2026 revenue.
Off to shovel more snow. Send spring!
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No mention of all the CAD sofware Cadence acquired?
Back when Hexagon acquired Bricsys, I asked execs at Hexagon about their plans for Bricsys. They seemed puzzled by my question, and could not answer. Ultimately, Hexagon allowed Bricsys to continue doing its own thing.
Perhaps the same will happen at Cadence.
Hi, Ralph – Bricsys will be part of Octave, the spinout later this year. As far as I know, the CAD elements of MSC Apex (called Modeler, I think?) were part of this deal with Cadence — but I am not sure.