AM solution manufacturer Stratasys today announced it had successfully completed the acquisition of Covestro’s additive manufacturing materials business. The deal includes R&D facilities and activities, global development and sales teams across Europe, the U.S. and Asia, a portfolio of approximately 60 additive manufacturing materials, and an extensive IP portfolio comprised of hundreds of patents and patents pending.
The companies announced in August 2022 that the business would be acquired by Stratasys for a selling price of approximately €43 million. In addition, a potential earn-out of up to € 37 million was agreed, subject to the achievement of various performance metrics.
Covestro’s additive manufacturing business provides material solutions for common polymer 3D printing processes and includes, among others, the products of the Resins & Functional Materials business acquired from DSM in 2021. These, and the IP portfolio, will allow Stratasys to expand its activities into area such as stereolithography, P3/DLP, and powder bed fusion. They complement Stratasys’ existing materials expertise for PolyJet and FDM technologies.
In other words, with this acquisition, it is not just that we are expanding our materials portfolio for our broad array of 3D printing technologies – we’re also paving the way for more new innovations, noted Stratasys CEO Dr. Yoav Zeif.
According to Hugo da Silva, previously Vice President of Covestro Additive Manufacturing and now Vice President of Strategy, M&A and Venturing at Stratasys, the acquisition advances Stratasys’ focus on complete solutions for specific use cases to grow 3D printing’s footprint further into manufacturing.
“A new material can be as transformative to a market as a new 3D printer,” he said. “The more we bring new materials innovations to market as part of use case solutions, the more we can transform how everything is manufactured around the world.”
For Covestro, the divestment of the additive manufacturing business represents yet another step in its portfolio optimisation process. As part of its Sustainable Future strategy, Covestro is focusing on sustainable growth and the transition towards full circularity.