3D-Printing Startup Desktop Metal to Combine With Hindery's Trine Acquisition
August 26 2020 - 8:56AM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
Desktop Metal Inc., a 3D-printing "unicorn" backed by Ford Motor
Co. and Google parent Alphabet Inc., on Wednesday unveiled plans to
go public through a merger with Trine Acquisition Corp., a
blank-check company led by veteran cable-industry executive Leo
Hindery Jr.
Desktop Metal, which offers metal 3D-printing technology, said
it will combine with Trine at an estimated $2.5 billion pro forma
equity value.
Desktop Metal last year raised $160 million in a round that
brought its total funding to more than $430 million and its
valuation to $1.5 billion. A 2017 funding round made the
Burlington, Mass., company a unicorn, or a privately held startup
valued at $1 billion or more.
Desktop Metal said its existing shareholders will own about 74%
of the combined company, which will remain listed on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol DM upon closing of the deal, slated
for the fourth quarter.
The startup said all of its significant investors, including
Ford, Alphabet's GV, Lux Capital, NEA, Kleiner Perkins and Koch
Disruptive Technologies, will retain their equity holdings.
Trine, a special-purpose acquisition company led by Mr. Hindery
and investment firm HPS Investment Partners that went public in
March 2019, said it will contribute its $300 million of cash held
in trust along with $275 million from a fully committed private
placement. Mr. Hindery, who is currently chairman and chief
executive of Trine, will join the Desktop Metal board.
Shares of Trine, which closed Tuesday at $10.14, rose more than
7% in premarket trading Wednesday.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 26, 2020 08:41 ET (12:41 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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