Business & Finance
Sartorius acquires Essen Bioscience in USD320mn deal
7 March 2017 -

Pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier Sartorius AG (ETR:SRT3) has acquired US-based Essen Bioscience, a leader in the field of real-time live-cell analysis, the company has just announced in a statement.

Essen BioScience is being acquired from SFW Capital Partners, a specialist private equity firm that invests in mid-sized analytics-related businesses.

Sartorius will purchase Essen BioScience for USD320mn in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2017, subject to antitrust clearance.

Having achieved strong double-digit growth over the past few years, Essen forecasts sales revenues of around USD60mn in 2017, with continuing robust levels of operating profitability. The company currently employs some 150 people, with headquarters in Michigan, US, and sales units in the UK and Japan.

The acquisition will allow Sartorius to significantly expand its bioanalytics portfolio, it stated. This is a field the company has entered recently through the acquisition of IntelliCyt in 2016.

Essen's real-time, live-cell analysis platform "will add another key technology for advancing and accelerating drug discovery applications to our lab divisions' portfolio", explained CEO Joachim Kreuzburg.

Sartorius will update its 2017 financial guidance for the lab division and the Sartorius Group following the closure of the transaction.

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