“In combination with our industrial 3D printing technologies, the acquisition of AvenAo Industrie represents a powerful accelerator for our commercial development and an extension of what we can offer our customers,” said Raphaël Gorgé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Prodways Group. “Applying Dassault Systèmes technologies to Prodways Group’s major business lines, as well as the expertise we have acquired in 3D integration and design, is going to increase our ability to help our customers make their digital transformation, whether in aeronautics, healthcare or other industrial sectors.”
The acquisition of AvenAo Industrie isn’t the only instance of Prodways Group and Dassault Systèmes working together. Prodways’ subsidiary INITIAL was one of the first companies to integrate Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace, a service that brings together designers and 3D printing service providers. INITIAL 3D printed the first customer parts using the service in its testing phase.
“We have decided to integrate INITIAL, subsidiary of Prodways Group, as one of the first international partners of our new Marketplace. Its 25 years of experience in product development, additive manufacturing and production is a great innovation accelerator for our clients,” said Bernard Charlès, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Dassault Systèmes.
Prodways Group will now be offering its customers the 3DEXPERIENCE cloud platform, boosting its “Factory of the Future” offering and facilitating a transition to a fully digital factory.
“The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a great tool to facilitate the adoption of new production technologies and offer proven industrial solutions to companies of all sizes,” continued Charlès. “Prodways Group is part of the more dynamic players in the field of the ‘Industry of the future’. Our collaboration will deliver our clients premium and affordable applications, contents and services thanks to the Cloud.”
AvenAo Industrie, meanwhile, will benefit from the financial and human resources that Prodways Group can offer. Over the next year and a half, the company expects complementarity with other Prodways Group activities to generate significant synergies. In addition, AvenAo Industrie founder Sébastien Vercruysse will join the management of Prodways Group.
“The foundation and development of the AvenAo group has been a wonderful entrepreneurial adventure,” said Vercruysse. “Participating in the development of an international leader of the Industry 4.0 revolution is even more exciting and I am proud to commit to this project over the long term. Clients, collaborators and partners will continue to rely on our support.”
The acquisition should be a positive for both companies in the short and long run. Prodways Group is in negotiations to acquire 100% of AvenAo Industrie’s share capital; the base portion of the transaction will be 50% in shares and 50% in cash, with an earn-out in cash accounting for about 20% of the total deal to be possibly paid out in 2019. AvenAo Industrie was profitable in 2016, and is expected to contribute at least €10 million to Prodways Group’s revenue in 2018. Discuss in the Prodways forum at 3DPB.com.