# Hexagon AB

Hexagon AB is a multinational industrial technology company. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange, the company since 2000 has had a particular focus on measuring technology and geospatial tools and software. After its founding, between 2000 and 2022, Hexagon completed more than 170 acquisitions, and it is the parent company of Leica Geosystems and Infor EAM, among other subsidiaries. With around 24,000 employees, Hexagon's revenue in 2023 was US$5.5 billion, while assets were $18.1 billion.

## History
### 1975–2012

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the predecessor company of Hexagon AB was founded on August 29, 1975. 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 Swedish 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.

## Products and services

Hexagon is a technology and software firm known for specializing in measurement and positioning systems. According to Reuters in 2023, Hexagon's products are used for "measurement and quality inspection in manufacturing processes and engineering plant design, as well as in infrastructure planning, construction, mining, agriculture and energy." With Hexagon developing what it calls "ecosystems" of software programs and technologies for specific purposes, in 2023, the company's official website stated it sold products catered to the following industries: autonomous mobility, buildings, cities and nations, defense, farms, industrial facilitates, infrastructure, manufacturing, and mines.

## Divisions

Hexagon AB is organized into divisions, listing five internal divisions on its website: Asset Lifecycle Intelligence, Autonomous Solutions, Geosystems, Manufacturing Intelligence, and Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial.

### List of acquisitions and subsidiaries

Between 2000 and 2022, Hexagon completed more than 170 acquisitions. The following table lists major acquisitions by year, also noting the division of Hexagon AB that the acquisition was made a part of.
| Year | Company | Country | Hexagon division |
| 2000 | Cubic-Tavleproduktion | Denmark | |
| 2000 | Wilcox & Associates | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2000 | HTR Hydrauliikka | Finland | |
| 2001 | Brown & Sharpe | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2002 | MIRAI S.R.L | Italy | |
| 2002 | Quality Ltda | Brazil | |
| 2002 | CE Johansson | Sweden | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2002 | Xygent | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2002 | GFD Technology | Germany | |
| 2004 | Korea ErFa Systems Eng – Business | South Korea | |
| 2004 | Romer | France | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2004 | GPD Sprl – Assets | Italy | |
| 2004 | Thona Group | Belgium | |
| 2005 | Trostel SEG | US | |
| 2005 | Leica Geosystems | Switzerland | Geosystems |
| 2006 | Mikrofyn | Denmark | Geosystems |
| 2007 | Gesswein | Germany | |
| 2007 | Agatec SAS | France | |
| 2007 | Jingjiang Measuring Tool Company | China | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2007 | Transmetal | Turkey | |
| 2007 | Allen Precision Equipment | US | Geosystems |
| 2007 | NovAtel | Canada | Autonomy & Positioning |
| 2007 | Elcome Technologies | India | Geosystems |
| 2007 | Gold Key Processing | US | |
| 2007 | Ionic Software | Belgium | |
| 2007 | Earth Resource Mapping | Australia | |
| 2007 | GAMFI International | France | |
| 2007 | Svensk ByggnadsGeodesi | Sweden | Geosystems |
| 2007 | CogniTens Ltd | Israel | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2008 | Messtechnik Wetzlar | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2008 | Santiago & Cintra Ibérica | Spain | |
| 2008 | m&h Group | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2008 | Viewserve | Sweden | Geosystems |
| 2008 | Serein Metrology | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2009 | Technodigit | France | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2009 | Mahr Multisensor GmbH | Germany | |
| 2009 | MYCRONA GmbH | Germany | |
| 2010 | Intergraph | US | Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial/ Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2012 | Microsurvey | Canada | Geosystems |
| 2012 | myVR | Norway | CORP |
| 2012 | GTA Geoinformatik | Germany | |
| 2013 | Pixis | Chile | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2013 | Airborne Hydrography AB | Sweden | Geosystems |
| 2013 | Devex | Brazil | Mining |
| 2013 | Navgeocom | Russia | Geosystems |
| 2013 | LISTECH | Australia | Geosystems |
| 2013 | New River Kinematics (NRK) | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2013 | MANFRA | Brazil | Geosystems |
| 2014 | Veripos | UK | Autonomy & Positioning |
| 2014 | Aibotix | Germany | Geosystems |
| 2014 | HostSure | Ireland | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2014 | iLab | Brazil | VEN |
| 2014 | Mintec | US | Mining |
| 2014 | North West Geomatics Ltd. (North West Group) | Canada | Geosystems |
| 2014 | SAFEmine | Switzerland | Mining |
| 2014 | Arvus | Brazil | iHub |
| 2014 | Vero Software | UK | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2015 | EcoSys | US | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2015 | Q-DAS | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2015 | CAMTECH GmbH & Co KG | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2016 | Apodius GmbH | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2016 | Forming Technology, Inc. | Canada | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2016 | Multivista | US | Geosystems |
| 2016 | SigmaSpace Corporation | US | Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial |
| 2016 | SCCS Survey | UK | Geosystems |
| 2016 | AICON 3D Systems | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2016 | NESTIX Oy | Finland | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2017 | Catavolt, Inc | US | VENT |
| 2017 | Luciad | Belgium | Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial |
| 2017 | MiPlan | Australia | Mining |
| 2017 | MSC Software | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2017 | VIRES GmbH | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2017 | DST Computer Services | Switzerland | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2018 | AGTEK | US | Geosystems |
| 2018 | AutonomouStuff | US | Autonomy & Positioning |
| 2018 | Bricsys | Belgium | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2018 | Guardvant | US | Mining |
| 2018 | Nextsense | Austria | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2018 | Spring Technologies SAS | France | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2019 | J5 International | Isle of Man | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2019 | Etalon AG | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2019 | Thermopylae Sciences & Technology LLC | US | GSP |
| 2019 | Split Engineering | US | Mining |
| 2019 | AMendate | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2019 | Volume Graphics | Germany | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2020 | Blast Movement Technology (BMT) | Australia | Mining |
| 2020 | Geopraevent | Switzerland | Geosystems |
| 2020 | Romax | UK | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2020 | PAS Global | US | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2020 | Tacticaware | Czech Republic | Geosystems |
| 2020 | ESPRIT CAM | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2020 | CAEfatigue | UK | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2020 | OxBlue | US | Geosystems |
| 2021 | Infor EAM | US | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2021 | Immersal | Finland | Geosystems |
| 2021 | CADLM | France | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2022 | ETQ | US | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2022 | Innovatia Accelerator | Canada | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2022 | Minnovare | Australia | Mining |
| 2022 | iConstruct Pty Ltd | Australia | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2022 | PDSA Company Limited | Ghana | Geosystems |
| 2023 | Qognify | US | Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial |
| 2023 | CADS Additive | Austria | Manufacturing Intelligence |
| 2023 | Projectmates | US | Geosystems |
| 2023 | Hard-Line | Canada | Mining |
| 2024 | Xwatch | UK | Geosystems |
| 2024 | Itus Digital | US | Asset Lifecycle Intelligence |
| 2024 | Voyansi | US | Geosystems |
| 2024 | indurad | Germany | Autonomous Solutions |
| 2025 | Septentrio | Belgium | Autonomous Solutions |