GE GE Aerospace

By Ted Mann 

Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. threw up a late obstacle Thursday to General Electric Co.'s attempt to acquire SLM Solutions Group AG, a maker of 3-D printing machines, saying it would oppose GE's tender offer for shares in the German company.

Elliott and its affiliates, which are controlled by billionaire investor Paul Singer, said GE's offer is "not in the best interests of SLM shareholders." The companies said they would reject the current terms of GE's offer.

A GE spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Elliott says it owns more than 20% of the outstanding shares of SLM, which GE hopes to acquire, along with shares of Swedish firm Arcam AB, for a combined $1.4 billion. The acquisition is part of GE's push into additive manufacturing, which the conglomerate hopes one day will yield benefits across its portfolio of industrial businesses.

In the offer for Sweden's Arcam, GE had to extend the offer period after failing to draw a sufficient percentage of Arcam shareholders to accept its offer for their shares. GE said it had acquired a little more than 40% of the company's shares when the offer period expired Oct. 14. The extension goes to Nov. 1.

The opposition from Elliott comes on the eve of Friday's deadline for GE to sweeten its tender offer to SLM shareholders, extend the deadline to accept the tender or hold steady. If GE doesn't extend the deadline or raise its price, the tender will end Monday.

If shareholders have tendered 75% or more of SLM's shares, GE is obligated to complete the transaction, according to public filings. If not, the company can walk away from the deal, which is a possibility if GE can secure only a minority stake in the machine maker despite offering a substantial premium for its shares.

SLM's management earlier this month unanimously endorsed GE's offer of 38 euro a share, which the company said at the time was a 37% premium.

Write to Ted Mann at ted.mann@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 20, 2016 18:31 ET (22:31 GMT)

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