German life sciences group Sartorius announced it will acquire French drug manufacturer Polyplus for €2.4 billion, or $2.6 billion.

As per the terms of the agreement, Sartorius’ subsidiary Sartorius Stedim Biotech will acquire Polyplus from private investors Archimed and WP GG Holdings IV B.V.

Founded in 2001, Polyplus has 270 employees and develops transfection and other DNA/RNA delivery regents. Polyplus is also expanding its focus into adjacent technologies like plasmid design and protein manufacturing.  

Additionally, the French company has locations in its home country as well as Belgium, the U.S. and China. 

According to a press release, Polyplus is expected to generate sales revenue in the “upper double-digit million-euro range” along with a “very substantial” EBITDA margin this year. 

The deal is subject to customary conditions, including approval by regulatory authorities, and is expected to close during Q3 2023.

“The innovative solutions of Polyplus are highly complementary to our portfolio, in particular to our offering of cell culture media and critical components for the development and manufacture of advanced therapies, and there are also strong synergies with our portfolio of downstream solutions for the manufacture of gene therapeutics,” said René Fáber, a member of the executive board and head of the bioprocess solutions division at Sartorius.

Fáber added that by combining the two companies, they will be “excellently positioned” to play a significant role in the gene therapy field. The Polyplus news comes nearly four months after Sartorius announced an agreement with Swedish healthcare firm BICO Group for a strategic cooperation and six months after completing its acquisition of Albumedix.

Regarding the details of the deal, J.P. Morgan is providing Sartorius with a bridge loan to finance the transaction, while Jefferies LLC acted as a financial advisor for Polyplus. 

“This contemplated acquisition is a major milestone in the history of Polyplus, and a recognition of its innovative upstream market leadership position and our highly talented Polyplus teams around the world,” Polyplus CEO Mario Philips said in a statement. “We would be excited to join forces with a world class bioprocess market leader as Sartorius.”