November 5 (SeeNews) - Germany-based biopharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier Sartorius said it closed the 360 million euro ($426 million) acquisition of Slovenian purification technology specialist BIA Separations.
The transaction was completed on November 2, after receiving all required approvals, Sartorius said in a statement earlier this week.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
Of the total purchase price, 240 million euro was paid in cash and 120 million euro in Sartorius Stedim Biotech shares, with both parties additionally agreeing on three tranches of earn-out payments based on performance over the next five financial years.
"Sartorius has been preparing to integrate BIA Separations into the Sartorius Stedim Biotech subgroup so this can now be initiated despite the special conditions prevailing during the pandemic," Sartorius said.
It added that BIA is expected to earn sales revenue of some 25 million euro in 2020, and to continue posting double-digit growth in sales in the next few years.
BIA's profit margins will be accretive to both the underlying EBITDA margins of Sartorius’ Bioprocess Solutions segment and of the overall Sartorius Group. Yet, the acquisition is not expected to have any material impact on Sartorius’ 2020 results.
"BIA's portfolio is highly complementary to Sartorius. We are thus creating an excellent offering for the manufacturing of gene therapies and other advanced therapies, and are pleased to welcome 120 new employees," Sartorius CEO, Joachim Kreuzburg, said in the statement.
Founded in 1998, BIA Separations develops and manufactures market-leading products for purification and analysis of large biomolecules, such as viruses, plasmids and mRNA, which are used in cell and gene therapies and other advanced therapies. The company is based in Ajdovscina, western Slovenia.
The Sartorius group has been growing by double digits on average annually and has been regularly expanding its portfolio by acquisitions of complementary technologies, according to the statement. Its sales revenue totalled 1.83 billion euro in 2019, when the group employed more than 9,000 people at its 60 manufacturing and sales sites, serving customers around the globe.
($=0.845395 euro)