The story
1975–2012
Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the predecessor company of Hexagon AB was founded on August 29, 1970
. The company was described as a "sprawling conglomerate" investing in diverse industries, for example seafood imports, vehicle hydraulics, and day-care centers. Financier Melker Schörling bought a controlling stake in the company in 1998, and aimed to focus the company's investments.
In 2000, Ola Rollén, former CEO of Kanthal, was appointed by Schörling to be CEO of Hexagon AB. The company began acquiring companies focused on precision measurement technology and software, and divesting in other areas. In late 2001,Hexagon AB agreed to buy Brown & Sharpe, a US company focused on metrological tools, for around US$180 million. Hexagon AB also acquired Leica Geosystems after counter-bidding against Danaher for the company in 2005. Hexagon AB acquired the Israel-based 3D optics company CogniTens Ltd in 2007. The software company Intergraph was acquired by Hexagon AB in July 2010 for US$2.1 billion.
2013–2021
Hexagon AB acquired Vero Software in 2014. In 2016, the top five shareholders in Hexagon included Schörling, Ramsbury Invest, SSB CI Omnibus, Swedbank Robur Fonder and JPM Chase. Schorling served as chairman, although he stepped down in October 2016 due to health issues. Hexagon purchased MSC Software for US$834 million in 2017, using the acquisition to boost its portfolio of products related to automated manufacturing.In 2018, Hexagon acquired both AGTEK and Spring Technologies SAS.
In 2016, Hexagon's CEO Ola Rollén was detained in Sweden over allegations of insider trading. The transaction did not involve Hexagon and he continued to serve as CEO of Hexagon. Rollén was acquitted in 2018, then again found not guilty by an Oslo appeals court in 2019. Hexagon acquired Infor EAM, a program developed by Infor, from Koch in 2021. Hexagon paid US$800 million in cash and shares worth $1.95 billion for the purchase, giving Koch a 5% stake in Hexagon.
2022–2025
Ola Rollén stepped down as Hexagon CEO at the end of 2022, becoming chairman of the board. Former COO Paolo Guglielmini became president and CEO. Hexagon purchased Hard-Line, a radio system company based in Ontario, in July 2023, and in November 2023, Hexagon led a US$230 million funding round in the industrial AI company Divergent Technologies. Hexagon's revenues in 2023 were US$5.5 billion. Assets were $18.1 billion, profits were $1.1 billion, and the company listed 24,000 employees in 50 countries.
On November 11, 2024, it was announced that Paolo Guglielmini was stepping down as CEO and that Norbert Hanke would be serving as interim CEO. Hexagon also announced its exploration of a possible split of the company into Hexagon AB and a new corporation, which would focus on Enterprise Industrial Software. On the 20th of January the following year Hexagon announced that Anders Svensson would take over the position of President and CEO. He officially took office on July 20.
In September 2025, Cadence Design Systems announced it would acquire the design and engineering business of Hexagon for €2.7 billion (approximately $3.16 billion) in a stock-and-cash deal. The acquisition includes MSC Software which Hexagon acquired in 2017.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hexagon AB, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7