09-06-2016: GE announced its intention to acquire SLM Solutions and Arcam,

This event sparked a series of remarkable events that eventually led to the creation of GE Additive, now known as Colibrium Additive

On September 6, 2016, GE announced its intention to acquire two leading companies in the metal AM—Sweden's Arcam AB and Germany's SLM Solutions Group AG—for a total of $1.4 billion. While negotiations with Arcam proceeded smoothly, talks with SLM were intense, largely due to Paul Singer, a shareholder who drove up the price of his shares. This ultimately led to GE breaking off the negotiations. Shortly after, the Americana acquired a competitor, Concept Laser, and built GE Additive on the foundations of Concept Laser and Arcam. Following this unfortunate turn of events, SLM Solutions plunged into a crisis that lasted several years, only recovering after the C19 pandemic...

This story is a classic tale of "greed not paying off." GE's original acquisition plans were disrupted by Paul Singer, a billionaire who owned over 20% of SLM Solutions at the time, and was known for challenging large multinational corporations—and even countries.

The initial agreement between GE and SLM Solutions stipulated that the German 3D printer manufacturer's shares would be sold at €38 per share. Singer began buying up shares, driving the price to €39.49 per share. SLM Solutions' stock was more than double its value from a year earlier, and the company was valued at around €710 million. Just days before the deal was to be finalized, Singer announced that selling the company at €38 per share was unprofitable and threatened to veto the transaction. GE did not bow to Singer's pressure and withdrew from the purchase of SLM Solutions on October 24, 2016.

Surprisingly the same thing happened with Arcam. Only 40% of Arcam’s shareholders were willing to sell the company to the Americans—the rest, including Paul Singer, who held 10.14% of the shares, objected. For the acquisition to proceed, GE needed to secure at least 90% of the shares. Without Singer, they could only hope for a maximum of 89.86%.

So what did GE do? They acquired Concept Laser (which was not a publicly traded company). Unofficial reports at the time suggested that GE's decision to pull out of the negotiations took Paul Singer by surprise, but the news of the Concept Laser deal shocked him.

Seeing how aggressively GE was playing, Arcam quickly came to terms with them and also sold. On the foundations of these companies, GE Additive was established, soon becoming a leading player in the metal AM market. In April 2024, after GE split into three public companies (GE Aerospace, GE Vernova, and GE Healthcare), GE Additive became part of GE Aerospace and was rebranded as Colibrium Additive.

Both the Concept Laser and Arcam EBM legacy brands have been retired. After recovering from its crisis, SLM Solutions has become one of the industry's leaders and has been part of the Nikon Corporation for two years.

Source: www.ge.com