Stratasys rejects a $1.2 billion takeover bid

The board of directors at Stratasys Ltd. has unanimously rejected a $1.2 billion takeover bid saying the bid undervalues the company.

The leader in polymer-based 3-D printer technology, based in Eden Prairie and Rehovot, Israel, received an unsolicited bid from Israel-based Nano Dimension on March 10.

The board of Stratasys and its financial and legal advisers reviewed the offer from Nano Dimension, which is a much smaller company than Stratasys, and concluded it was not in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.

Analysts who follow Stratasys were skeptical of the bid from Nano Dimension at the outset and some predicted that Stratasys would reject the bid.

"We believe Stratasys and their largest shareholders will not accept this offer given the steep discount to industry peers and recent consolidation in this space," wrote Troy Jensen, who follows Stratasys for Minneapolis-based Lake Street Capital Markets in a note to clients on the day of the bid.

Nano Dimension had offered to pay $18 a share for Stratasys, a price that equated to $1.2 billion. It was a premium of approximately 36% to what Stratasys shares were at prior to the offer.

After the offer, Stratasys' stock price didn't approach $18 indicating broader shareholder skepticism of the deal. Shares of Stratasys closed at $14.50 on Wednesday.

Shares of Nano Dimension fell more than 10% after it made its bid on March 10 and are trading around $2.38, off another 6% on Wednesday.

Jensen calculated in his note that if Stratasys were valued in line with other companies in the 3-D printing space that have been acquired recently that it should attract a takeover bid price closer to $31 a share.

"We believe the company is executing extremely well right now, and a merger with Nano could potentially distract the company," Jensen added in his note.