BASF-Backed 3D Printer Essentium to Go Public Via SPAC Merger

Crystal Tse and Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

The BASF SE logo sits on a storage silo at the company's chemical plant on the River Rhine in Ludwigshafen, Germany, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Around 30% of Germany’s coal, iron ore and natural gas is transported along the river, where factories are set up to take deliveries for just-in-time manufacturing. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Essentium Inc., a provider of industrial 3D printing solutions, has agreed to go public through a merger with blank-check firm Atlantic Coastal Acquisition Corp.

The transaction gives the combined company an enterprise value of $974 million, according to a statement, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.

It’s the latest 3D printing company to pursue a listing after Desktop Metal Inc., Shapeways Holdings Inc., Velo3D Inc. and Markforged Holding Corp. all made their public market debuts by merging with special purpose acquisition companies in the past two years.

The SPAC is raising more than $40 million in additional funding via a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, priced at $10 per share. Investors participating in the PIPE include German chemical maker BASF SE, one of Essentium’s backers, as well as Atalaya Capital Management.

Founded in 2013 and based outside Austin, Texas, the 3D printing company serves customers including the U.S. Department of Defense, Ford Motor Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., according to the statement.

Essentium is in the process of getting its materials approved to work with the U.S. Air Force, Chief Executive Officer Blake Teipel said in an interview. Its technology can be used for repairing and replacing parts of older aircrafts, he said.

The deal is expected to close at the end of the first quarter.

Essentium touts its ability to disrupt traditional manufacturing processes.

“Supply chain architectures and factories are really looking for new solutions that would improve resilience, flexibility and decreased turnaround times,” Teipel said. “That’s where we come in.”

The company makes over 50 grades of industrial plastic composites and is developing a line of metal, said Teipel, who used to be an engineer at Caterpillar Inc.

Essentium executives have worked with SPACs before. In November, the company named Jonathan Baliff, the former president and CFO of Genesis Park Acquisition Corp., a SPAC that merged with Redwire Corp., as interim CFO.

Atlantic Coastal, led by CEO Shahraab Ahmad and president Burt Jordan, raised $345 million in a March initial public offering.