The company Concept Laser has been put on the market by founder Frank Herzog.
Herzog is reported to have declared that he “wants to benefit from a boom in demand for the technology” and has advised Boutique PJT to “find a buyer”. The company was started in 2000 and 3D printing has been used to “build prototypes for decades”, reported Reuters, but has recently progressed to mass production for products like “dental crowns, medical implants and light aircraft parts”.
As reported by The Recycler, General Electric recently unveiled “plans to buy two of the world’s top makers of metal-based 3D printing machines” – Arcam in Sweden and SLM Solutions in Germany worth $1.4 billion (€1.2 billion). A spokesman for Concept Laser said that this could “bode ill for Concept Laser’s sale” as possible buyers may not want to take on GE, and commented that “GE has bought up most of the competitors. How are you going to survive against GE in the long term?”
The company is talking to rivals in Asia and Europe, including Switzerland’s Oerlikon as well as “private equity groups”, although GE has not shown an interest. The company is “expected to post earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation” of about €25 million ($28 million) this year and €40 million ($44 million) next year”.
Bidding is expected to start next month, and the expectancy is that they will exceed the value of the company by more than 20 times its expected 2016 earnings, or more than €500 million ($562 million), a spokesperson said. Both Concept Laser and PJT declined to comment, as did potential bidders.