Japanese manufacturing equipment supplier Sodick Co. Ltd has acquired a minority share of 9.5% of Prima Additive through a reversed capital increase.
The agreement will allow the development of a business alliance between the two companies which will focus on the growth of Prima Additive's metal additive manufacturing technology portfolio.
Sodick has deep expertise in the development of high-speed and high-precision machine tools, as well as metal additive manufacturing and hybrid manufacturing systems, and a large customer base and sales network. Prima Additive, meanwhile, has its focus on metal laser powder bed fusion machines, and counts its application capacity as one of its biggest strengths.
Together, the companies believe they bring complementary technologies, products, customers, applications and geographies, and will now pool their resources and expertise to bring about developments in the metal additive manufacturing market. Furthermore, the collaboration will facilitate commercial synergies promote and sell the products of the two brands in the markets of Japan, Europe, and the United States.
Paolo Calefati, CEO of Prima Additive, commented: “We warmly welcome Sodick into our corporate structure: an investment by another important industrial partner that gives confidence in the company's growth path. This is a project in which possible and future synergies will be explored, at the centre of which there will be the valorization of the complementarity of the products, but also of cultural differences. It is a project that brings together two companies that approach the world of metal additive manufacturing starting from the search for profitable and scalable applications thanks to an innovative mindset and a strong industrial tradition."
