3D Printing investment news for 2018 gets underway with a potential hostile takeover of leading British engineering firm,GKN PLC(LON: GKN).
Melrose Plc(伦敦:MRO)是英国投资公司”pecialise in the acquisition and performance improvement of good manufacturing businesses.” Less charitably, Melrose are described as “asset strippers” by Vince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats – a British political party.
梅尔罗斯（Melrose）估值为70亿英镑或每股420便士。该提议是上周提出的，已将GKN的股价飙升至近450便士。当然，梅尔罗斯的出价远非完成的交易。外部GKN反对收购，并就“梅尔罗斯的主题提案”发表了声明。
GKN believes that the Melrose proposal is, “entirely opportunistic and that the terms fundamentally undervalued the Company and its prospects.” In reply Melrose issued a statement saying, “there would be significant operational and commercial benefits arising from Melrose’s ownership of GKN’s businesses, reversing a history of existing GKN management not delivering on margin targets.”
Dayton Horvath, AM industry analyst, gave his perspective on the news, “It’s not surprising that GKN’s multiple business units and manufacturing strengths in light of recent profit warnings and a high (58,000) employee count, have drawn takeover attention.”
接管的阴影已在GKN上隐约存在一段时间。分析师的共识是，该公司管理不善，未能利用机会。美国航空航天局的放缓，库存减少可能达到1.3亿英镑，导致了盈利警告和前首席执行官凯文·卡明斯（Kevin Cummings）在2017年的离开。
With blood in the water, other potential buyers may appear.GKN已经与GE添加剂合作以及关于西门子或欧利康是否可以获取GKN的猜测。
Additive manufacturing analyst Dayton Horvath adds, “The unique perspective for this potential takeover is the ultimate sale of GKN’s powder metallurgy business, which stands to gain significant value on two fronts. First, the powder metallurgy market maintains respectable single digit growth while the additive manufacturing market experiences continued double digit compounded growth and both of these markets demand metal powder from the likes of GKN, Sandvik, and Oerlikon Metco amongst others.”
For Melrose the £7 billion takeover would be their largest to date, with a long line of engineering enterprise acquisitions stretching back to 2005. In September 2016, Melrose brought Nortek, ventilation equipment manufacturer, for £2.2 billion. Other deals include Dynacast, a manufacturer of diecast parts and components, McKechnie, an engineering group, and Elster, a metering business.
Observers have remarked that breaking up a major engineering group like GKN would be disadvantageous for the UK. Politician Vince Cable states, “GKN stands for long term investment in advanced manufacturing whereas[梅尔罗斯]从事短期金融工程的业务。”
3D打印在GKN
GKN表示，就投资活动而言，3D打印是公司的“主要重点”。
GKN都提供3D打印材料，并在多个业务部门使用3D打印。GKN Driveline部门为许多汽车制造商（包括Fiat Chrysler和Ferrari）提供了工作。使用Stratasys 3D打印机据报道，GKN Driveline节省了70％的汽车生产交货时间。
去年6月的生产metal powder for additive manufacturingGKN Hoeganaes（粉末冶金师）的GKN子公司开始。Ancoram系列3D打印的钛粉是在新泽西州GKN的粉末创新中心的10,000平方英尺大厅制造的，该资产可能是收购后首批出售的资产之一。
Hoeganaes每年生产超过240,000吨金属粉，约有五分之一的市场。
GKN的整个部门列表包括：
GKN Aerospace, mainly based in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.
GKN Driveline, primarily Europe and North America with a joint venture in China.
GKN Powder Metallurgy, mainly North America with sites in Europe and Asia Pacific.
GKN土地系统主要基于欧洲和北美
高级副总裁业务发展和高级技术的Guido Degen在2017年的一次活动上发表讲话，解释了金属3D打印的重要性：“我们完全致力于在数字化公司和我们的报价方面在该行业中发挥开创性的作用。我们将积极地塑造未来，并证明我们可以使用金属AM连续生产厂采取下一步的步骤来做到这一点，”
据说GKN可能会出售其航空部门to prevent further approaches.
Horvath agrees and states, “Although GKN’s current powder business and production-capable additive manufacturing infrastructure have benefited from the continued demand for advanced manufacturing technologies in various industries, it won’t be a deciding factor in a takeover when compared to the larger auto and aero business units.”
但是，对于60亿美元的添加剂市场，简化或出售GKN粉末冶金和添加剂业务的前景不仅会成为头条新闻，而且进一步确认了添加剂服务提供商生产能力的牛市。
梅尔罗斯（Melrose）和GKN现在都将开始旨在说服股东的竞选活动，并反对收购。3D打印行业将紧随其后的进度。
GKN declined to provide further comment for this article.
For all the latest news and insight about the 3D printing industry,subscribe to our free newsletterandfollow our active social media accounts。
我们的读者将选择2018年最佳的3D打印企业。3 d印刷行业奖项现在。
特色图像显示了使用GKN技术开发的美洲虎配方赛车。通过GKN的照片。
