Ansys, Inc. and Fluent, Inc. today announced that Ansys will aquire Fluent in a combined cash and stock offer valued at $565 million.

Fluent's market share, close to 40%, combined with Ansys CFX's market share of more than 10% will create a very dominant player in the CFD market.

Ansys, Inc. has very aggresively bought itself into the fast-growing CFD market. Two years ago Ansys bought CFX, the 3rd largest CFD code, and 5 years ago Ansys bought ICEM CFD, one of the leading CFD meshing companies. Today's announcement that Ansys will also buy Fluent, the largest CFD code vendor, will give Ansys a unique position in the CFD sector.

For the last 6 years Fluent's mother company, Aavid Technologies, has been owned by Willis Stein & Partner - a holding company with the expressed intention of not being a long-term owner of Fluent and Aavid. The non-CFD side of Aavid, mainly focued on thermal management solutions, will be spun of as a separate company prior to the deal.