When the company that produces the world’s fastest metal 3D printers, Desktop Metal, announced their intentions to go public, shares of another metal 3D printing company, ExOne (XONE), soared. On the surface, this makes no sense. If ExOne’s competitor is successfully raising more capital to sell a superior metal 3D printer, shouldn’t that be bad news for ExOne?
The answer to this question may lie in Desktop Metal’s plans for “constructive consolidation,” something elaborated upon in the various artifacts made available to support their initial public offering (IPO). While your typical special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) reverse merger offers up little more than a forward-looking glossy investor deck, Desktop Metal has filed sufficient documentation for us to assess the value on offer. It may even provide some clues as to why shares of ExOne surged.
If you’re not familiar with Desktop Metal, we published a piece on them last December titled “