Mysterious Investor Shows New 5.99% Stake in Voxeljet (VJET) Days After Showing Large Stake in Peer The ExOne Company (XONE)

In a 13G filing after the close on Voxeljet AG ADS (NYSE: VJET), Novel Century Ventures/Tu Guihua disclosed a 5.99%, or 1,114,070 share, stake in the company. Notably, on Monday this same investor disclosed a 15.46% stake in peer The ExOne Company (NASDAQ: XONE).

FBR Capital analyst Ajay Kejriwal commented on the mysterious investor related to the XONE filing in a note to clients this morning:

"In a Form 3 filing with the SEC, Novel Century Ventures, a BVI registered entity, disclosed that it had acquired 2.23 million XONE shares or 15.4% of shares outstanding, effectively becoming the company's second-largest shareholder. Surprisingly, little is known about this investor, and, based on the filing, it appears ownership of Novel traces back to a person/entity in China. Our discussion with management suggests the investor has not yet made any contact with the company, and the filing appears to have been triggered as part of the disclosure requirements for initial holdings greater than 10%. We view the involvement of this investor as a positive for shares with varying degrees of potential upside in the event of three possible outcomes: (1) if this turns out to be just a passive portfolio holding, it could help ExOne get a large, potentially sticky shareholder; (2) if the investor seeks a more active role in ExOne, it could potentially help the company expand and enter
into strategic partnerships in China. We note that China is one of the world's largest producers and consumers of metal forgings, and ExOne's 3D printed sand mold and cores could find a sizeable market; and (3) if the investor launches an attempt to acquire ExOne, we believe it could have potentially positive implications for the stock. Given the lack of details, it is difficult to quantify the likelihood of any of the above scenarios playing out. That said, we think the setup in the stock appears positive over the next several months given the relatively low expectation bar and very high short interest."

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