Conformis, a nearly two-decade-old maker of 3D-printed, personalized orthopedic implants, has agreed to be acquired by a competitor in the space: restor3d, a North Carolina startup that spun out of Duke University in 2017.
Under the terms of their merger agreement, according to Conformis’ announcement, restor3d will dole out $2.27 in cash for each of Conformis’ outstanding shares of common stock. That represents a premium of about double Conformis’ recent stock price, which has hovered around an average of $1.15 for the last month.
Despite the upgrade, the purchase price is still fathoms below Conformis’ previous trading highs. Shortly after going public in 2015, the Massachusetts-based company’s stock hit a peak of more than $600 but has spent the years since steadily dropping. Its last visit to the triple digits came in mid-2019, and, by the start of this year, Conformis’ stock was trading closer to the $3 mark.
With the news of the restor3d merger, however, the company’s shares shot up, opening Friday at $2.22—85% higher than Thursday’s $1.20 closing price.
Though the companies didn’t disclose the total value of the acquisition, with about 7.3 million Conformis shares currently outstanding according to its recent first-quarter earnings report, restor3d could be looking at a purchase price of nearly $16.6 million.
For comparison, in 2022, Conformis raked in total revenues of $62.1 million—a year-over-year drop of nearly 40%, per a full-year earnings report. The company plunged even further into the red in 2022, closing out the year with a net loss of $50.5 million, compared to the previous year’s net loss of just $2.4 million.
With those results likely looming over them, the company’s board of directors has unanimously approved the acquisition, per Conformis’ announcement. The deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of this year.
“After nearly 20 years of revolutionizing the orthopedic industry with personalized treatment and patient choice, this transaction is a testament to the value of our portfolio and the strength of our core technology and intellectual property,” CEO Mark Augusti said in the announcement.
Both Conformis and restor3d use 3D-printing technology to churn out orthopedic implants that can be precisely tailored to each patient’s specific anatomy and medical needs. Their combination will therefore create “a leading personalized 3D-printed medical device company,” according to restor3d CEO Kurt Jacobus.
“By leveraging the strengths in our respective portfolios around artificial-intelligence-driven implant design, digital automation and 3D-printed osseointegrative biomaterials, we see tremendous opportunity to offer clinically differentiated and cost-effective solutions across the orthopedic landscape, including shoulder, foot and ankle, spine and large joints,” Jacobus continued.