Sartorius in $750m swoop for Danaher Life Science businesses
The deal will see Sartorius acquire Danaher’s FortéBio, chromatography and resins, and Solohill businesses, which were collectively responsible for generating $140m (€125m) in sales during 2018.
The Germany-headquartered company will pay $750m for Danaher’s Life Science businesses, with the deal having a proposed completion date of the first quarter of 2020.
However, the transaction is dependent on Danaher’s proposed $21bn takeover of GE Biopharma, which will add the latter’s capabilities chromatography and resins, amongst other platforms.
As a result, Danaher needs to divest its own capabilities in the area, which will see Sartorius pick up chromatography hardware and resins products, expanding is Bioprocess Solutions Division in the process and adding 100 employees.
Joachim Kreuzburg, Sartorius’ CEO, noted in a statement that this would broaden the company’s offerings in downstream bioprocessing, which the company has previously made efforts to expand in through its recent collaboration with Novasep.
In addition, the FortéBio unit will add protein analysis instruments, biosensors and reagents that are utilized in drug discovery. This business includes production sites in Fremont, California, and Shanghai, China, as well as 200 employees. Through the California site, Sartorius gains a footprint on the west coast of the US.
The third business set to be part of the deal is Danaher’s SoloHill, which contains microcarrier technology and particle validation used in cell culture and other bioprocesses.
Building on bioprocess growth
Sartorius’ move to expand its biopharma offerings arrives as it also announced, the same day as the deal with Danaher, the company’s nine-month financial figures for 2019.
In particular, the company pointed to growth in sales figures for its Bioprocess Solutions Division by 19.4%, compared to the previous year, as sales reached €1bn.
In addition, Sartorius noted that it expects the Bioprocess Solutions Division to reach the upper end of its sales growth guidance for the financial year, which had previously been forecast to be between 13-17%.
