Sartorius buys Danaher’s life sciences tools businesses for $750 Mn

Global life sciences tools market is projected to witness substantial growth in the forthcoming years owing to their advancements and usage in the biotechnology sector. The growing prominence of the field and the subsequent rise in competition is further making way for various acquisitions and collaborations in the industry.

Sartorius Group, a renowned German laboratory and pharmaceutical equipment supplier, reportedly announced the acquisition of three life sciences tool businesses from Danaher Life Sciences, a US-based life sciences and diagnostics division of Danaher Corporation. The acquisition would cost Sartorius approximately $750 million, which will be a cash transaction.

These businesses had joint sales revenue of about $140 million last year with double-digit profit margins and a robust growth profile. The businesses together employ approximately 300 people across the globe.

The proposed agreement is predicted to be completed by the first financial quarter of 2020. The proposed transaction would be subject to all the customary closing conditions and complete, successful procurement of the GE Biopharma business by Danaher Corporation.

The three business tools that would be acquired by Sartorius are FortéBio, a label-free biomolecular characterization business, chromatography hardware and microcarriers, and resins SoloHill business.  

Sartorius CEO, Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg stated that the portfolio proposed by Danaher for purchase indicates an excellent strategic fit with the company. Through the FortéBio Octet platform, the company would incorporate a widely accepted as well as differentiated technology for simplifying and advancing drug discovery to the company’s lab division portfolio.

Kreuzburg added that chromatography hardware and resins and the microcarrier businesses widen the company’s robust bioprocessing offering, specifically in the downstream area. Sartorius looks forward to welcoming new teams from Danaher to the company and jointly combine both of their capabilities to further benefit the company’s biopharma and life science consumers.

Danaher stated that it entered into a business agreement with Sartorius as a step to obtain regulatory approval for the acquisition of the GE Biopharma business which is currently pending. In February, Danaher agreed to acquire the GE Life Sciences’ biopharma business for approximately $21.4 billion in cash, in a contract designed to improve the purchaser’s bioprocessing offerings and pay down the debt of the seller.

 

Source credit: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191020005084/en/Sartorius-Signs-Agreement-Acquire-Select-Danaher-Life