GE has reached an agreement to acquire a 75% stake in Concept Laser GmbH for $599 million (€549 million). The agreement allows for GE to take full ownership in a number of years.
This follows the failure of GE’s bid for rival company SLM Solutions.
Privately-held additive manufacturing (AM) specialist Concept Laser has more than 200 employees and is headquartered in Lichtenfels, Germany, with operations in the United States (Grapevine, Texas), China, and a global network of more than 35 distributors and agents.
Concept Laser designs and manufacturers powder bed-based laser additive manufacturing machines. Its customer base is focused on the aerospace, medical and dental industries, with a meaningful presence in automotive and jewelry. Concept Laser’s machine range incorporates both the largest and smallest build envelopes currently available on the market and are capable of processing various powder materials including titanium, nickel-base, cobalt-chromium and precious metal alloys, as well as hot-work and high-grade steels and aluminum.
Digital transformation
‘GE shares our vision regarding the potential for additive manufacturing to lead the digital transformation of industrial production,’ said Concept Laser founder Frank Herzog. ‘We are delighted that together we will be able to accelerate development of the technology to the benefit of our customers.’
Herzog will continue as CEO of Concept Laser and will also assume a senior leadership position within GE.
In order to support the growth potential of the business, GE has committed to invest significantly into Lichtenfels, which will continue to be Concept Laser’s headquarters and will become a new German center for GE.
This story is reprinted from material from GE, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
