07-18-2022: Nano Dimension announced 12.12% ownership of Stratasys
A deal that was supposed to have tremendous consequences in the future...
On July 18, 2022, Nano Dimension – the self-proclaimed leader in Additively Manufactured Electronics and specialized Additive Manufacturing, announced the acquisition of 12.12% of the outstanding ordinary shares of Stratasys. Regardless of the sensational nature of this event, considering the tenure of both companies in the market, their sizes, and revenue levels, it was soon to become clear that this event would have a significant impact. Both on several prominent companies in the AM industry as well as the landscape of the industry itself...
The truth is, if we wanted to tell the full story of the recent acquisition of DesktopMetal by Nano Dimension, it should begin on July 18, 2022. The acquisition of shares in Stratasys started a whole chain of events filled with numerous and surprising twists and turns.
The starting point was that Stratasys is one of the oldest and leading AM companies in the world, particularly on the polymer side of the market. Meanwhile, in 2022, Nano Dimension was celebrating its 10th anniversary, although its actual presence and recognition in the industry were lower. It was fair to say that Nano Dimension was one of those companies in the 3D printing industry that was often written and talked about, but its offerings were so specific and specialized that a relatively narrow audience used its products.
Therefore, it was all the more surprising to hear that Nano Dimension – a company most people in the AM industry had never heard of – had acquired 12% of Stratasys – one of the two largest 3Dprinting companies in terms of revenue in the world.
This event was not met with approval by Stratasys's management – on the contrary, they seemed negatively surprised. A week later, the company implemented an aggressive plan to stop the “hostile takeover” - the so-called “poison pill” tactic. This initiated a several-month-long public dispute between the companies. Nano Dimension began making acquisition offers for Stratasys, which were successively rejected.
Then Stratasys announced a merger with Desktop Metal. This was met with strong opposition from Nano Dimension, which began to torpedo this initiative. Then 3D Systems entered the game, also announcing its intention to acquire Stratasys. And then, nothing came of all this. Finally, Nano Dimension bought Desktop Metal.