I don't see what is so mysterious or disconcerting about what has apparently happened. There are three players here at the table. One is Hasselblad the company that needs significant capital to roll out the X1D project at a volume that is way beyond its historic capacity. The second is Ventizz, a private equity firm that invested in Hasselblad almost 6 years ago and is now beyond its investment cycle (i.e., 5 years). Given the history of missteps Ventizz had had to deal with and the length of its holding period, it has zero interest in doubling down and dealing with more exposure to commercial and financial risk by investing significantly more capital. The third is DJI, a minority investor that is a strategic player with a long term horizon, deep pockets, and the ability to see what Hasselblad's brand and expertise can do for its core business. They want in. Looks like a win win win.
Howard ....can t disagree ..except you quoted me out of context and left off the part about scaling the production capacity . The financing issue is straightforward ..... It simply surfaced the operational problems of a small company attempting a huge scaling process. When a new product is late to market it forces the working capital issue .
Now you can believe that the product delays are the result of needing the funds to pay for the sensors , or that Sony had them on a reduced allocation or maybe its because its really hard to introduce a new product like the X1D and work thru the production issues .
All you have to do is look at what happened at Leica with the M8 ..the demand outstripped the company s capacity to deal with both scaling production (which robs from current capacity ) and potential warranty type issues (which are always more likely when a product is rushed to market ).
Its great that DJI stepped up to keep HB afloat ...but its not great that they had to do so .
Product delay + new majority owners to provide working capital = greater risk . How we see this is a function of our experience and perspective.
I am definitely OK with a more positive view and hope to be wrong in my pessimism . I just don t appreciate being quoted out of context or as others have done ...restating my POV in a ridiculous fashion .
Couple of things that keep coming up :
DJI isn’t stupid and they aren t investing money in a loser ........of course not ! They most certainly bought into HB to position themselves for high resolution aerial solutions . Its a $1B company making an investment in a $30M ..who thinks its about having HB make a profit . By taking control they are protecting their original investment objectives . In light of the importance to DJI to move upscale ..it could be worth many times the investment to date . They will protect it over all other objectives .
DJI and the existing HB management ...may not perceive scaling production the same way . The fast way to accomplish this is to outsource as much as possible of the new processes . Far larger subcontractors (most in asia ) are much better positioned to accomplish this . The current HB management has put a lot of emphasis on Made in Sweden and its of critical importance to the existing work force(that must be relied upon to scale anything ). Some of have made light of this issue ..but the CEO will not think it insignificant or in the slightest way funny .
Whatever happens ..it will not be the HB we have known ..maybe thats good but its not what I thought after listening to the CEO talk about his turnaround efforts . The return to its legacy of producing the very finest cameras ..hand made in Sweden..seems like a long shot .