Sandvik Exits 3D Printing: Osprey Powder Business Goes to Mimir in Carve-Out Deal

The Pivot That Never Came

Sandvik's nine-year experiment with additive manufacturing ended quietly. The Swedish industrial giant sold its Osprey metal powder business and remaining AM operations to Mimir, a Stockholm-based private equity firm specializing in carve-outs. The deal closes a chapter that began with ambitious vertically integrated strategy and ended with strategic retreat.

I remember writing positively about Sandvik's approach in 2023. The logic seemed sound at the time: use core expertise in metallurgy to produce higher-value finished components. The company had built significant capabilities around its powder business, qualified materials with service bureaus, and pursued customers in aerospace, mining, and nuclear sectors. The partnership with BeamIt, culminating in a majority stake acquired in 2019, appeared to be the foundation of a serious play in AM.

What happened next illustrates the danger of executive turnover in specialized businesses. Several key people departed. Institutional knowledge scattered. The strategic clarity that had guided early decisions evaporated. When Sandvik and BeamIt ultimately split over valuation and direction in 2023, the company found itself without a coherent path forward. Rather than doubling down on materials expertise or rebuilding the partnership network, leadership chose divestment.

What Mimir Acquired

The buyer is not a typical PE shop looking for quick flip potential. Mimir positions itself as a long-term holder, and the asset profile fits that model. Osprey brings 2,000 alloy variants and more than 400 distinct alloys across 3D printing, cold spray, and metal injection molding (MIM). That's a materials library that took decades to build and cannot be replicated quickly.

"Osprey combines deep materials science, a world-class alloy library and decades-long customer relationships in markets with strong underlying growth," said Mimir Managing Partner Joakim Notö.

MonteCap founder Mats Gunnarsson takes the chairman seat. His background suggests operational focus rather than financial engineering. The stated plan calls for intensified investment in product development, new alloys, and international expansion with particular emphasis on additive manufacturing and advanced manufacturing processes where demand grows fastest.

The Strategic Hole Sandvik Leaves

Stripped of Osprey, Sandvik retains its machining, tooling, and materials technology businesses. The company gave up a capability that aligned with its core metallurgy strengths. Whether this represents foresight about AM market dynamics or simply poor execution of a valid strategy remains unclear from outside.

For the broader market, the transaction signals that vertical integration in AM is harder than it looks. The gap between owning powder production and successfully manufacturing end-use parts proved wider than Sandvik's leadership anticipated. Other large industrials watching this case will draw their own conclusions about build-versus-partner decisions.

The question now is whether Mimir can execute where Sandvik struggled. The asset base is solid. The alloy library is defensible. Whether the new ownership can maintain customer relationships disrupted by two years of corporate indecision and translate materials capability into reliable part production will determine if this carve-out becomes a success story or another cautionary tale.

Key Deal Parameters

Financial terms remain undisclosed. The transaction closed in 2024, following Sandvik's earlier exit from the BeamIt joint venture. Mimir's carve-out focus and long-term holding philosophy suggest this represents genuine strategic intent rather than financial engineering.

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M4S TAKE

My take: partnerships only work when both sides bring something the other cannot build quickly. The test is whether the combined offering solves a problem neither could address alone. If it does, this is worth watching.

Simon McLoughlin