Sartorius Stedim Biotech, a leading international partner of the biopharmaceutical industry, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with purification specialist BIA Separations in a transaction totaling 360 million euros of which 240 million euros will be paid in cash and 120 million euros in Sartorius Stedim Biotech shares.

Both parties have further agreed on three tranches of earn-out payments based on performance over the next five financial years. The transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory conditions, is expected to close in late 2020, and therefore will have no material impact on Sartorius Stedim Biotech's 2020 results.

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. BIA's technology for manufacturing scale purification is already used in production of the first commercialized advanced therapeutics and the company also has a strong presence with such novel drug candidates in the clinical pipeline.

"Combining the teams and technologies of Sartorius Stedim Biotech and BIA will create a premium offering for the manufacturing of advanced therapies. The goal of our partnership is to enable such therapeutics to reach more patients faster and we are committed to continue delivering relevant innovations across the entire production chain," commented Joachim Kreuzburg, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO.

Expecting continued very strong double-digit sales growth over the next few years, BIA is forecasted to earn sales revenue of approx. 25 million euros in 2020 at profit margins that will be accretive to the underlying EBITDA margin of the Sartorius Stedim Biotech Group.