Siemens acquires Mentor Graphics (2016-2017)
Siemens, the German industrial conglomerate, agreed to buy Mentor Graphics, a US maker of electronic design automation software, for about $4.5 billion. The deal closed within five months and folded Mentor into Siemens' digital industries division.
Siemens immediately gained chip-design software to pair with its factory automation hardware.
It became a template for industrial conglomerates buying software to shift from selling hardware to selling systems.
Like Siemens-Mentor, this deal has a European industrial giant paying a premium to fold US software into its portfolio, testing whether hardware companies can run software businesses.
