The battle over control of 3D metal printer companies continues.
Last week, giant General Electric raised their offer for Arcam, one of two 3D metal printing companies the company has been courting.
The most recent offer had GE increasing their valuation of Arcam to around USD$696m, and at the same time lowering their minimum amount of shares purchased to only 75%. This move was likely to counteract the refusal of one of Arcam’s shareholders, who withheld agreement for 10% of the shares on an earlier proposal.
It seems to me that one way or another, GE will acquire control of Arcam, one of the premier makers of metal 3D printer equipment in the world today. In fact, at the end of October, Arcam’s board of directors announced they had unanimously recommended shareholders accept the proposed GE deal.
While that dance plays out, I am thinking that the actions of GE and other industry players has perhaps boosted the price of 3D metal printer companies for a good long while. I speculated earlier that GE’s move has important implications for the other 3D metal printer manufacturers, and the fact that GE has raised their price means they’re very serious and that perhaps my speculations are at least partly true.
Meanwhile on the sidelines remains Stratasys, the major 3D printer manufacturer currently not having any metal 3D printing capability. That company has recently been focusing on transforming their plastic 3D printing technologies into production-capable units, but it seems they’re simultaneously missing out on the burgeoning metal 3D printing industry.
If they happen to change their mind on this, they’ll likely find the price of the remaining 3D metal printing companies to be quite a bit higher than only a few months ago before all this started.
The early bird gets the worm, they say.
