According to media reports on October 30, German engineering giant Siemens AG has agreed to acquire Troy, Michigan-based automotive software supplier Altair Engineering Inc. for a transaction valued at $10 billion.
In its press release, Siemens announced that Altair shareholders would receive $113 per share, representing a 19% premium over Altair's closing price on October 21.
Siemens President and CEO Roland Busch described this acquisition as the largest in the company's history and called it a "milestone."
"This strategic investment aligns with our commitment to accelerate our customers' digitalization and sustainability transformation by merging the real and digital worlds," said Busch in the press release. "It is the logical next step: for the past 15 years, we have built and maintained our leadership in industrial software, and more recently, we have brought the benefits of data and AI to the entire industry."
Altair was founded in 1985 by its CEO, James Scapa, and provides engineering software to companies across multiple industries, with automotive and aerospace being its two largest sectors. Altair's clients include major automakers like Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, as well as other large corporations such as Boeing. Altair operates 79 offices in 28 countries and has over 3,000 employees worldwide.
According to Altair's website, the company uses a "simulation-driven approach" to develop software and cloud services that enhance product development efficiency by reducing costs and energy consumption. Its expertise spans areas such as structural analysis, motion, fluid dynamics, thermal management, electromagnetics, electronic system design, and systems modeling.
In August of this year, Altair announced its acquisition of Cambridge Semantics, a Boston-based provider of modern data architecture. Cambridge Semantics' technology will be integrated into Altair's RapidMiner data analytics and AI platform.
