, Columnist
GE's 3D Vision of the Future
U.S. giant is paying up for European printing deals.
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Whichever way you look at it, General Electric is paying a lot to acquire a pair of European leaders in "additive manufacturing machines" (3D printers to you and me). In total, it's offering $1.4 billion for Germany's SLM Solutions and Sweden's Arcam, a punchy 10 times their combined revenues. The premium on the previous day's close is respectively 53 percent and 37 percent.
Even before GE pounced, neither target looked a steal. SLM was valued at more than 70 times estimated 2016 earnings, Arcam almost 120 times. So has the U.S. industrial conglomerate lost its 3D printed marbles?