Bryan Garnier advises dp polar on acquisition by 3D Systems

Bryan Garnier, an independent investment bank for European healthcare and technology companies, has exclusively advised the shareholders of German 3D printing provider dp polar GmbH – company founder Hans Mathea and ALTANA – on its planned acquisition by publicly traded U.S.-based 3D Systems. Dp polar develops 3D printing systems for industrial series production using the Material Jetting technology for the automotive, medical technology, aerospace, mechanical engineering and consumer goods industries.

With this acquisition, 3D Systems has already taken over the sixth 3D printing technology provider within one and a half years, three of which are from Germany: previously, these were the German providers Kumovis GmbH (February 2022) and Additive Works GmbH (May 2021).

“3D Systems Corporation is currently the most active player in consolidating the additive manufacturing market, ahead of Desktop Metal, which has acquired five companies in the last 18 months,” explains Falk Müller-Veerse, partner at Bryan, Garnier & Co. The increase in M&A activity in the last six months is striking, he said: “After 14 announced acquisitions of 3D providers worldwide in 2021, there were already 17 published transactions in 2022 as of today. The market is obviously gaining momentum and the major providers are expanding their technology depth,” Müller-Veerse said.

Dp polar was founded in 2014 by serial founder and inventor Hans Mathea, who had already successfully sold his former company CSAT (2D printing) to Heidelberger Druck in 2011. ALTANA, the specialty chemical company and supplier of high-performance, industry-grade 2D and 3D printing materials from Germany, had invested in dp polar, based in Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen near Karlsruhe, in2017. This cooperation proved to be a highly productive combination of dp polar’s mechanical engineering and machine development and ALTANAS extensive expertise in the development of innovative resilient 3D printing materials.

Dp polar has developed the world’s first industrial 3D printer with a rotating printing plate, paving the way for 3D printing using the Material Jetting technology to move from rapid prototyping to industrial series production: Instead of a printing head that moves to deposit the material layer by layer, the printing plate rotates around the printing head underneath it, offering higher productivity and, above all, high repeatability.

US-based 3D Systems, a publicly traded company, provides additive manufacturing solutions comprising hardware, software, materials, and services. Each unique, application-specific solution is powered by the expertise of the company’s application engineers, who collaborate with customers to transform how they deliver their products and services.

Company founder Hans Mathea is looking forward to the cooperation with an international supplier of 3D printing systems, which he says has great synergy potential.

3D Systems expects the acquisition of dp polar to close in the fourth quarter of 2022,
“By combining our renowned polymer materials portfolio with this first-to-market high-speed production technology, I believe we’ll affect a monumental shift in production workflows for high-value applications in industrial and healthcare markets,” emphasized Dr. Jeffrey Graves, president and CEO of 3D Systems in the transaction press release.

Hans Mathea comments on the cooperation with Bryan Garnier: “With Bryan Garnier I have had a very experienced investment banking team at my side that supported us superbly in all phases of the process. They are ensuring that the transaction with one of the global market leaders is going to be concluded successfully.“

The sale of dp polar marks Bryan, Garnier & Co’s fourth successful transaction in the 3D printing space. Bryan Garnier’s multinational deal team included Falk Müller-Veerse (Partner), Philippe Patricot (Managing Director), Martin Eichler (Director) and Lennart Buchhauser (Associate).

For more information about Bryan Garnier, please visit www.bryangarnier.com.

To learn more about dp polar GmbH, please visit dppolar.de/en/home.

To find out more about 3D Systems, please visit 3dsystems.com.