Nano Dimension explores ‘strategic alternatives’ for Desktop Metal
What you'll learn:
- Nano completed the purchase of Desktop Metal for $179.3 million just at the beginning of April after a long, contentious process.
- Throughout 2024, deal sizes shrank, leading to the July 2024 Nano Dimension/Desktop Metal merger announcement.
- Nano Dimension executives promised to provide more details during an earnings call later this month.
After being forced, in court, to complete a purchase it didn’t want to make, additive manufacturing equipment maker Nano Dimension is looking for “strategic alternatives” for its newly acquired Desktop Metal division.
In corporate lingo, "strategic alternatives" is right up there with politicians "looking to spend time with family" or the phrase “it’s not you, it’s me.” In plain terms, such language typically means a company is trying to sell or restructure through Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
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Other changes point to such moves. Nano Dimension said it added Robert Warshauer, a specialist in selling businesses, to its board of directors and hired two outside firms to explore the future of Desktop Metal.
Nano completed the purchase of Desktop Metal for $179 million at the beginning of April after a long, contentious process. In 2023, a merger flurry took hold in the additive manufacturing world with Stratasys at one point offering $1.8 billion for Desktop Metal. However, most of those deals fell apart as none of the equipment manufacturers had achieved stable profitability and private equity investors began abandoning the market.
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When the Stratasys-Desktop Metal deal collapsed in 2023, Stratasys responded by saying it was considering “strategic alternatives” to its own operations. Earlier this month, Stratasys sold a 14% stake in itself to an Israeli private equity firm for $120 million, valuing the full company at about $860 million.
Throughout 2024, deal sizes shrank, leading to the July 2024 Nano Dimension/Desktop Metal merger announcement. As the year progressed, Desktop Metal’s leaders sued Nano Dimension for not completing the deal.
It took a March 24, 2025, ruling from a Delaware court to force the issue, a decision that Nano Dimension then-Chairman, now-CEO Ofir Baharav said “disappointed” Ness Ziona, Israel-based Nano Dimension, which in the U.S. is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.
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Nano Dimension abruptly fired its then-CEO Yoav Stern in December, following Desktop Metal’s lawsuit. It has since revamped its board and hired Baharav as CEO. In addition to the Desktop Metal deal, Nano Dimension is working through a merger process with additive company Markforged.
Nano Dimension executives promised to provide more details on the future of the strategic review of Desktop Metal during their next earnings call later this month.
Combined, Nano Dimension and Desktop Metal expected revenue for 2024 ended Dec. 31 of more than $200 million, based on unaudited full-year results, according to Nano Dimension.
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Ray Huff, additive manufacturing analyst, engineer and strategist with longtime market observer Wohlers Associates, which publishes its Wohlers Report on AM and 3D printing annually, added: “Last month, the Delaware court ordered Nano Dimension to promptly complete its acquisition of Desktop Metal, after the latter said ND was dragging its feet on completing the deal. Now that ND has acquired all of DM’s assets, its leadership team and its financial advisors have to decide what to do with the various product lines and liabilities. We’re watching closely to see what becomes of the various brands now under Nano Dimension’s roof.”
