As if the Stratasys takeover situation wasn’t already complex, another player has entered the game: 3D Systems.
As Fabbaloo readers may recall, Stratasys has been battling unsolicited takeover bids from the much small Nano Dimension, all the while secrets talks with Desktop Metal were underway. Eventually, Stratasys and Desktop Metal unveiled a plan to merge later this year to create the largest company in the 3D print space.
Then Stratasys announced they’ve received yet another offer, this time from industry leader (according to our weekly 3D print leaderboard) 3D Systems.
Stratasys explained:
“It has received an unsolicited non-binding indicative proposal from 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) (“3D Systems”) to acquire Stratasys for $7.50 in cash and 1.2507 newly issued shares of common stock of 3D Systems per ordinary share of Stratasys.”
What does this mean in terms of dollars? It’s actually a bit complex and hard to understand.
The current price of 3D Systems shares are worth about US$8.30, whereas Stratasys’ 67 million circulating shares are worth about US$14. The US$7.50 per share is about 50% of the current Stratasys share price. In addition, 1.2507 shares of 3D Systems would be worth around US$10.40. Thus we have the total per share value of the 3D Systems offer to be about US$18 per share, the same price point proposed by the latest Nano Dimension offer.
To gain control over Stratasys, 3D Systems would have to collect over 50% of the shares of the company, which would total something above US$500M. In a way, this offer seems similar to Nano Dimension’s, making Stratasys have a choice of new controlling owners — if they accept the proposal at all. Remember, Stratasys rejected that Nano Dimension offer.
Should they accept the 3D Systems proposal, the resulting “3Datasys” would be by far the largest entity in the 3D print space, and would control countless unique and patented 3D printing processes. Honestly, I have my doubts whether such a behemoth could properly leverage all the resources at hand.
What will Stratasys do? My suspicion is that they will politely reject 3D Systems’ offer next week, much like they’ve done with those from Nano Dimension. If you read through Stratasys’ analysis of the Nano Dimension offer, you’ll see that Stratasys has a very bright future on their own.
The question is, could that future be even bigger with 3D Systems? We’ll find out next week.
Via Stratasys
