Sartorius completes acquisition of Novasep’s chromatography division

The life science group Sartorius announced today that, through its subgroup Sartorius Stedim Biotech, it closed the acquisition of the Novasep chromatography division as of February 7, 2022, following approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The transaction had already been agreed upon at the beginning of 2021. The business acquired generated sales of around 40 million euros in 2020 at a double-digit profit margin; final figures for 2021 are not yet available. The majority of the approximately 100 employees work at the Pompey site in eastern France and some in the USA, China, and India.

The portfolio acquired comprises chromatography systems primarily suited for smaller biomolecules, such as oligonucleotides, peptides, and insulin, as well as innovative systems for continuous manufacturing of biologics. Since 2018, Novasep and Sartorius have also been jointly developing optimized systems for a membrane-based chromatography technology.

As the acquisition is expected to generate additional non-organic sales revenue growth of around 1 percentage point in 2022, Sartorius has updated its sales revenue forecast for the current year as follows: Consolidated sales revenue is now expected to increase by about 15 percent to 19 percent (previously about 14 percent to 18 percent), with non-organic growth from acquisitions projected to contribute about 2 percentage points (previously about 1 percentage point). The company’s underlying EBITDA margin remains forecasted at about 34 percent this year.

For the Bioprocess Solutions Division, the company now forecasts sales revenue growth of about 17 percent to 21 percent for 2022 (previously about 16 percent to 20 percent), with non-organic growth from acquisitions contributing around 2 percentage points (previously around 1 percentage point). The division’s underlying EBITDA margin is still expected to be around 36 percent. The 2022 forecasts for the Lab Products & Services Division remain unchanged: Accordingly, the company continues to project sales revenue growth of about 6 percent to 10 percent, including a non-organic growth contribution from acquisitions of around 1 percentage point, and an underlying EBITDA margin of around 26 percent for the division.