Today is the day the outcome of the Nano Dimension takeover bid should be resolved.
Readers may recall that upstart 3D printer manufacturer Nano Dimension has been on a campaign to take over Stratasys, one of the oldest players in the space — and one that’s much larger.
Nano Dimension’s approach has been to acquire a majority of the shares of Stratasys, thus gaining control. They already own 14.5% of the company’s shares, so they need quite a bit more to take over. Their intention is to merge operations and go forward as a larger entity.
Nano Dimension has made several offers for the company, with the first attempting to acquire 100% of the shares. However, their campaign backfired, as their buying interest caused Stratasys’ valuation to rise higher than Nano Dimension’s bank account.
https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/persistent-takeover-attempts-nano-dimensions-unending-quest-for-stratasys
Meanwhile, Stratasys has formally rejected all the Nano Dimension offers, and instead has been working on a merger with Desktop Metal that would make the company far larger than Nano Dimension could take over. Later, 3D Systems joined the negotiations with a takeover offer of their own that seemed somewhat similar to Nano Dimension’s. It was also rejected by Stratasys.
This caused Nano Dimension to shift strategies, and instead offer to purchase just enough shares to gain more than 50% control. However, they strangely offered to buy these shares at LESS than their previous per-share offer. Why a shareholder who turned down a prior offer would accept a new offer at a lower price is a puzzle to me.
Nevertheless, Nano Dimension’s offer is on the table for Stratasys shareholders to consider, and it concludes today at midnight ET.
The Stratasys board of directors has rejected the offer, and has been aggressively contacting Stratasys shareholders to explain why they believe the deal is not in their interest. Stratasys feels in the long run the company will be of much higher value with their Desktop Metal plan.
But their board of directors does not make the decisions here. The decision to tender Stratasys shares to Nano Dimension’s offer is one that must be made by the individual Stratasys shareholders. I can’t see why anyone would make that decision, but some may do so, and they should make that decision by today.
This is very likely the last attempt by Nano Dimension to attempt a Stratasys takeover, as other corporate moves will soon place the company out of their financial reach.
In coming days each of the two companies should be tallying up the totals to see where Nano Dimension will land. Will Nano Dimension acquire more than 35% of the outstanding shares to enable them to take over Stratasys? Or will they fall short?
We will no doubt see announcements this week from both companies on the results, which will almost certainly set directions for the industry going forward.
