ARC Group Worldwide Acquires Kecy Corp. – Acquisition Will Expand Their 3D Printed Prototyping Reach

One of the signs of early maturation within an industry is the consolidation of the companies within it. Over the past 12 months, there has been a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions within the 3D printing space. As competition heats up, the larger corporations have begun to gobble up the smaller innovative companies, creating a war of sorts for the best talent and ideas within the space.

Today we have seen a clear example of such. ARC Group Worldwide has announced the acquisition of a 26 year old, Hudson, Michigan metal stamping company, Kecy Corporation. The acquisition will enable ARC Group Worldwide to further expand their distribution channel for 3D printed prototyping, as well as other manufacturing methods. In addition it will provide ARC Group with the metal stamping capabilities that Kecy Corp. has become known for over the years.

“Given ARC’s leading position in metal injection molding and our focus on metal 3D printing, the Acquisition of Kecy’s business is a natural strategic fit to further bolster our metalworking capabilities, said Jason T. Young, Chairman and CEO of ARC. “We see considerable metal stamping applications in our existing customer base, and are excited to bring these capabilities in-house, to offer a more holistic solution to our clients. Further, having been the first supplier to Kecy of metal 3D printed prototypes, we see a compelling opportunity to bring this exciting new technology to their customer base to further differentiate our combined offering and shorten the ‘speed-to-market’. Kecy’s utilization of advanced technologies, such as automation and robotics, illustrates our conviction that manufacturing is returning to the United States. Further, Kecy is a promising example of how ARC can accelerate technology adoption, by bringing additional capabilities, such as 3D printing and our proprietary online quoting software to customers.”

The acquisition took place in exchange for $26 million in cash. ARC Group will continue to use Kecy’s 84,000 square foot manufacturing facility, which includes advanced die-making and manufacturing technology, for their continued operations.

“The acquisition of Kecy’s business should add meaningful cash flow to ARC, and we expect it to be immediately accretive to our earnings,” said Young. “The Acquisition is also a good example of our ongoing overall acquisition strategy, which is to buy strategic companies at prudent multiples of cash flow, in order to increase our customer base and provide material cross-selling opportunities for our 3D printing and other advanced manufacturing capabilities. Being our customer’s full solution provider today will enable us to transition them to new manufacturing technologies over time, as 3D printing and other advanced processes begin to take market share from legacy forms of fabrication.”

A Conference call will be scheduled on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the acquisition. Discuss this story in the ARC Group Acquisition forum thread at 3DPB.com