In a nutshell:
- BETA CAE Systems International AG, a company that makes software for analyzing car and jet engine designs, with a Greek R&D Team, will be acquired by California-based Cadence Design Systems (CDNS.O).
- Under the terms of a definitive agreement, the deal will be executed in cash (60%) and stock (40%), at a total amount of $1.24B.
- The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals. According to their data, BETA CAE has annual revenue of about $90M, and Cadence expects BETA CAE to contribute approximately $40M to 2024 revenue.
Their background story:
BETA CAE Systems, founded in 1997, is an engineering company that offers software solutions in the advanced CAE field of today’s product development in the automotive, aerospace, chemical, defense, and biomechanics industries. The company has a strong footprint in the automotive vertical sector. BETA CAE customers include companies such as Honda Motor Company Ltd., General Motors Company, Stellantis, Renault Group, Volvo Cars and Lockheed Martin Corporation, among others.
BETA CAE has a primary R&D center in Thessaloniki, Greece, and 13 additional offices worldwide. The headquarters are based in Switzerland.
Cadence Design Systems develops electronic design automation, software, hardware and silicon intellectual property technologies. Over the past few years, the company has expanded its system analysis portfolio to build a comprehensive multiphysics platform including electromagnetics, electrothermal and computational fluid dynamics solutions. With the acquisition of BETA CAE, Cadence will enter structural analysis, the largest system analysis segment.
In their words:
“For more than two decades we’ve led the evolution of engineering simulation, first by establishing our reputation in the land mobility sector, and then successfully expanding to broad deployments across aerospace, defense, biomechanics, electronics, energy, and other industries,” said Panagiotis Kouvrakis, chairman of BETA CAE.
“Combining our computational software expertise with BETA CAE’s rich technology and talent will enable us to offer a more comprehensive portfolio to customers, while opening significant new opportunities for Cadence by tapping into the structural analysis segment. These solutions are particularly important in automotive, where convergence of electrical and mechanical designs is further driven by an increasing shift towards electric vehicles, requiring deeper design team collaboration in integrated workflows,” said Dr. Anirudh Devgan, president and CEO, Cadence.
