GE raises stake in Sweden's Arcam by buying shares from hedge funds

(Reuters) - General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) said on Wednesday it will raise its stake in Swedish 3D printer maker Arcam AB to around 95 percent from 77 percent after buying shares from hedge funds Elliott and Polygon.

GE said it will buy Elliott Management and Polygon Investment Group's outstanding shares for 345 Swedish crowns ($41.44) each.

GE also said it plans to acquire all remaining shares of Arcam in a compulsory buy-out procedure and to request that the company delist its shares from the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange.

Activist Elliott built a 10 percent stake in Arcam in October 2016 after GE announced an initial tender for the 3D printer maker, which the hedge fund rejected.

GE later offered a 5 percent bump on its first offer, raising it to 300 crowns per share, and Arcam said GE's offer was completed in November 2016.

A spokeswoman for Elliott declined to comment while Polygon did not respond to requests for comment.

Arcam shares were up 10.3 percent at 1200 GMT.

3D printing has been used to build prototypes for decades but has become more widespread for industrial mass production in recent years, with uses including the production of dental crowns, medical implants and light aircraft parts.

GE has long been one of the main proponents of industrial 3D printing, using it to make fuel nozzles for its new LEAP jet engine in what marked a big step in using the technology in mass production.

(Reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru and Maiya Keidan and Ben Martin in London; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Adrian Croft)