William Blair acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Sartorius Group (XTRA:SRT) on its pending acquisition of Polyplus, for €2.4 billion, via its subsidiary Sartorius Stedim Biotech. The transaction signed on March 31, 2023 and is expected to close later this year following regulatory filings.
About the Companies
Sartorius Group is a leading international partner of life science research and the biopharmaceutical industry. With innovative laboratory instruments and consumables, Sartorius’ Lab Products and Services Division concentrates on serving the needs of laboratories performing research and quality control at pharma and biopharma companies and those of academic research institutes. The Bioprocess Solutions Division (Sartorius Stedim Biotech), with its broad product portfolio focusing on single-use solutions, helps customers to manufacture biotech medications and vaccines safely and efficiently. Sartorius has been annually growing by double digits on average and has been regularly expanding its portfolio by acquisitions of complementary technologies. In fiscal 2022, the company earned sales revenue of 4.2 billion euros. At the end of 2022, nearly 16,000 people were employed at Sartorius’ roughly 60 manufacturing and sales sites, serving customers around the globe.
Polyplus, with about 270 employees, develops and produces transfection as well as other DNA/RNA delivery reagents and plasmid DNA in high quality and GMP grade. These are key components in the production of viral vectors used in cell and gene therapies and other advanced medicinal therapeutic products. Recording significant growth rates, Polyplus is expected to generate sales revenue in the upper double-digit million-euro range and a very substantial EBITDA margin in 2023. Founded in 2001, Polyplus is based in Strasbourg, France, and has locations in France, Belgium, the U.S., and China. The company has been expanding its focus beyond transfection reagents through acquisitions in adjacent technologies like plasmid design, and protein and plasmid manufacturing, broadening its upstream portfolio for gene therapies as well as gene-modified cell therapies.
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