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Sartorius: The 155-Year-Old German Precision Workshop That Became the Picks & Shovels of the Biotech Gold Rush
I. Introduction: The Most Important Company You've Never Heard Of
Picture this: It's a rainy morning in Göttingen, Germany—a medieval university town nestled in the hills of Lower Saxony. Steam rises from cobblestone streets as researchers shuffle into laboratories across the city. Inside those labs, on nearly every bench, sits equipment bearing a familiar logo: Sartorius. From the precision balances weighing milligrams of experimental compounds to the single-use bioreactors churning out life-saving biologics, this 155-year-old company has quietly positioned itself at the beating heart of the global pharmaceutical revolution.
Sartorius AG is an international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier. The company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Göttingen, Germany. As of December 31, 2024, Sartorius employed 13,528 people worldwide. In fiscal year 2024, sales revenue was on par with the previous year at around 3.4 billion euros, almost twice as high as in 2019, the last year before the pandemic and its effects.
But the financial numbers tell only a fraction of the story. The real question is this: How did a small German workshop, founded by a 24-year-old precision mechanic to make analytical balances, transform into a critical infrastructure provider for the entire biopharmaceutical industry? How did a company that once weighed moon rocks collected during the Apollo 11 mission become the go-to partner for vaccine manufacturers racing to combat COVID-19?
Sartorius was added to the DAX 40 in 2021, with its highest price ever reaching €834 in September 2021. That peak represented a staggering validation of the company's strategic transformation—and a market cap that briefly exceeded €50 billion. Yet by late 2024, the stock had retreated to around €215, a painful reminder that even the best-positioned companies face the brutal math of post-pandemic normalization.
This is the story of strategic pivots made decades in advance, of a "picks and shovels" business model that profits regardless of which drug candidates succeed, of M&A mastery that stitched together a formidable technology platform, and of leadership continuity that's almost unheard of in modern corporate governance. Joachim Kreuzburg, who earned his doctorate in environmental economics, has been at the helm of Sartorius since 2003, making him currently the longest-serving CEO of a DAX 40 company.
The themes we'll explore: the precision engineering heritage that created the company's DNA, the audacious strategic pivots that bet the company's future on biotechnology, the elegant "picks and shovels" business model that generates recurring revenue from consumables, the acquisition machine that expanded capabilities across the bioprocessing value chain, the COVID boom that turbocharged growth, the subsequent hangover that tested management's resolve, and the leadership transition that marks the end of an era.
Let's dive in.
II. Founding & Early History: From Precision Balances to Scientific Instruments (1870–1990)
The Founder's Workshop
Florenz Sartorius was born on April 10, 1846, as the son of a respected but impoverished watchmaker in Göttingen. After the death of his father around 1855, he grew up as a half-orphan in humble circumstances with two siblings and his mother. After leaving school, he completed an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic and trainee in Göttingen before embarking on the traditional years of travel with renowned workshops and companies in 1865.
The young Sartorius embarked on a journey that would shape his destiny. In 1865, Florenz Sartorius began his years of travel at the renowned precision mechanical workshop of Carl Staudinger, which was considered the most important workshop for precision balances for chemical laboratories at the time. In Hamburg, Florenz Sartorius worked in the optical workshop of Dr. Hugo Schröder, who himself had once been an apprentice at the Meyerstein company in Göttingen. Among other things, Schröder manufactured lenses for telescopes and refractors.
This wandering apprenticeship—traditional in German craft culture—exposed Sartorius to multiple disciplines of precision engineering. When he returned to Göttingen, he was ready.
In 1870, Florenz Sartorius founded the "Feinmechanische Werkstatt F. Sartorius" (Precision Mechanical Workshop) in Göttingen at the age of 24. With his skilled craftsmanship and entrepreneurial instinct, he identified the needs of university as well as industry customers at an early stage.
With broad practical experience, Florenz Sartorius founded his precision mechanical workshop in Groner StraĂźe in 1870. Starting with one apprentice, he initially supplied his former masters, Apel and Staudinger, as well as the Georg August University with scientific instruments, in particular analytical balances.
The timing was impeccable. Germany's industrial revolution was accelerating, and the burgeoning chemical industry demanded ever more precise measurement instruments. Florenz Sartorius combined skilled craftsmanship with an unerring instinct for promising innovations, which he improved and adapted to market and customer requirements. This was evident in his key product, the short-beam analytical balance, which was of particular interest to the burgeoning chemical industry.
In 1870, Florenz Sartorius founded the "Feinmechanische Werkstatt F. Sartorius" in Göttingen at the age of 24, after developing a new short-beam analytical balance. This development became internationally known, with the 3,000th balance produced in 1895. The mechanical workshop eventually grew into a medium-sized company.
Diversification and Expansion
Success bred ambition. In 1906 Sartorius expanded its portfolio by acquiring the companies August Becker (Göttingen) and Ludwig Tesdorpf (Stuttgart). Their work included microtomes as well as astronomical, geodetic, and physical instruments.
By late 1800s, in addition to balances, Sartorius expanded its operations to incubators for poultry farming and heating devices for bacteriological purposes.
This early diversification reveals something important about the company's DNA: a willingness to venture beyond core competencies when complementary opportunities arose, and an instinct for technologies adjacent to scientific research. The heating devices for bacteriological purposes, in particular, represented an early foray into the life sciences—a harbinger of transformations to come.
The Dark Chapter: Nazi Era and World War II
Every 155-year-old German company must reckon with the Nazi era, and Sartorius is no exception. The company's own historical record acknowledges the uncomfortable truth: "During the Third Reich, Sartorius profited from the armaments industry and used forced laborers during World War II."
Before Florenz passed away in 1925, he decided on the succession plan to let his two sons (Wilhelm, and Erich) lead the company. When Wilhelm died in 1937, Erich became the sole manager of Sartorius and he started to prepare his adopted son Horst Sartorius for the succession.
After the death of Florenz Sartorius in 1925, control of the company passed to his 2 remaining sons, Wilhelm (commercial director) and Erich (technical director). Wilhelm's death left Erich in control of the company until 1947 when he died. Control passed to his son, Horst. The outbreak of World War II meant that the company had to produce military equipment for the Air Force. Horst Sartorius undertook the recovery of the company, continuing the development of new types and balances and separation techniques.
Post-War Recovery and Scientific Prestige
The post-war decades saw Sartorius rebuild and expand internationally. A remarkable validation of the company's precision engineering excellence came in 1969. Sartorius tested moon rocks collected during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. When NASA needed to weigh lunar samples with extreme precision, they turned to Sartorius—a testament to the company's global reputation for accuracy.
A pivotal innovation came in 1916 with the invention of the membrane filter by Richard Zsigmondy and Wilhelm Bachmann, a foundational technology for bioprocessing. This innovation, developed in collaboration with Nobel laureate Richard Zsigmondy, would prove to be the historical core of what eventually became the company's bioprocessing business.
The membrane filter technology established Sartorius's first meaningful connection to the life sciences—a connection that would deepen dramatically in the decades ahead.
For investors, the early history establishes two critical characteristics: first, an institutional memory of precision engineering that translates into product quality; second, a demonstrated willingness to expand through acquisition and diversification while maintaining technical excellence. These traits would prove essential in the company's transformation to come.
III. The First Inflection Point: IPO & Strategic Pivot to Biotech (1990–2002)
The End of Family Control
To provide a more diversified basis for financing and to enable long-term growth, in June 1990, Sartorius went public, with the most of ordinary shares remaining in family ownership. Prior to this, the transfer of management from the third to the fourth family generation had failed, so external managers take over. Horst Sartorius remained on the Supervisory Board until his death in 1998 and was appointed Honorary Chairman.
The year 1990 represented a watershed moment. For 120 years, Sartorius had been a family enterprise—through two world wars, through hyperinflation, through the partition and reunification of Germany. Now, external managers would chart the company's course. This wasn't a hostile takeover or a forced capitulation; it was a deliberate acknowledgment that the company needed fresh capital and professional management to compete globally.
The IPO structure was clever: ordinary shares carrying voting rights remained predominantly with the Sartorius family, while preference shares (without voting rights but with higher dividends) were offered to the public. This dual-share structure would later become central to the company's governance philosophy—maintaining strategic stability while accessing public capital markets.
The Biotech Bet
Since the mid-1990s, Sartorius has focused on biotechnology, which was still in its infancy at the time. As the first biopharmaceuticals such as human insulin reached market maturity, production facilities were needed on an industrial scale for the first time.
Consider the audacity of this decision. In the mid-1990s, Sartorius was fundamentally a weighing technology company—that's what they'd done for 125 years. Biotechnology was nascent, uncertain, and dominated by American venture capital. Yet management saw something others missed: the first wave of biopharmaceuticals was creating demand for manufacturing equipment that didn't yet exist at industrial scale.
Previously specialized primarily in filtration solutions, Sartorius expanded its portfolio in the growth market of biotechnology by acquiring the world's leading manufacturer of bioreactors and established itself as a solution provider for laboratory and process solutions.
The B. Braun Biotech Acquisition: First Major M&A Coup
In 2000, Sartorius took over B. Braun Biotech International (BBI) from B. Braun Melsungen AG. BBI, the world's leading manufacturer of fermenters (bioreactor) and cell culture systems at the time, was integrated into the Sartorius group.
Sartorius Group acquired B. Braun Biotech in the year 2000, substantially extending its portfolio as a supplier to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries by adding the equipment components for fermentation and cell culture technology.
This acquisition was transformative. Sartorius had expertise in filtration and separation technologies—downstream processes in biomanufacturing. BBI brought upstream capabilities: bioreactors and fermenters where the actual biological production occurs. Together, they could offer a more complete solution to biopharma customers.
Dr. Utz Claassen, then chief executive officer of Sartorius, faced much criticism from those who knew only filters for the decision to acquire BBI. Despite initial resistance, some of those managers and executives became great supporters in driving the single-use concept.
The critics had a point: acquiring a bioreactor company when you're known for filters seems like diversification for its own sake. But Sartorius management understood something crucial about their customers. Biopharma manufacturers didn't want to deal with dozens of specialty suppliers; they wanted integrated solutions from partners who understood the entire process.
The Historic Crossover
In 2002, for the first time, sales revenue for the Biotechnology Division exceeded sales revenue for the Mechatronics Division, underlining the importance and success of the technological transformation that had been initiated.
Think about what this meant. For 132 years, weighing technology had been Sartorius's identity, its competitive advantage, its reason for being. And in 2002, barely two years after acquiring BBI, biotechnology revenue surpassed that legacy business. The transformation wasn't gradual—it was abrupt, decisive, and irreversible.
For investors, this period established several important patterns. First, Sartorius demonstrated the capacity to execute transformative acquisitions without destroying the acquired company's capabilities. Second, management showed willingness to cannibalize legacy businesses when better opportunities emerged. Third, the company developed what would become its signature M&A strategy: acquiring leaders in complementary technologies, integrating them into a cohesive platform, and selling complete solutions rather than components.
IV. The Kreuzburg Era Begins: Transformation Under Visionary Leadership (2003–2014)
The Unlikely CEO
In the annals of German corporate leadership, few CEOs match the longevity and impact of Joachim Kreuzburg. Joachim Kreuzburg, who earned his doctorate in environmental economics, has been at the helm of Sartorius since 2003. After joining the company in 1999, he was appointed to the Executive Board in 2002 at the age of 37 and CEO a few months later.
An environmental economist leading a precision instruments company into biotechnology? On paper, it seems improbable. But Kreuzburg's academic background—focused on sustainability and long-term thinking—proved remarkably well-suited for an industry measured in decades-long drug development cycles rather than quarterly earnings beats.
Kreuzburg has been at the helm of the company since 2003. After joining Sartorius AG in 1999, he was appointed to the Executive Board in 2002 at the age of 37 and became Chairman a few months later. During this time, Sartorius' sales revenue increased more than 7-fold to around 3.4 billion euros and profits more than 26-fold to around 1 billion euros, the number of employees quadrupled to over 14,000 while the Group's stock market valuation increased from just over 90 million euros to more than 17 billion euros.
Let those numbers sink in. Seven-fold revenue growth. Twenty-six-fold profit growth. A market valuation increase of nearly 200x. By any measure, the Kreuzburg era represents one of the most successful long-term value creation stories in German industrial history.
The Stedim Merger: Defining the Modern Company
If the B. Braun Biotech acquisition was transformative, the 2007 merger with Stedim S.A. was definitive. Bernard Lemaître and Bernard Vallot founded Stedim in Aubagne near Marseille with the ambition to provide an intravenous nutrient supply for patients whose digestive systems had suffered significant damage due to disease or extensive medical treatment.
The company's initial focus was on research and development. Together with scientists, Stedim has developed the first complete system for filling and supplying intravenous parenteral nutrition solutions to patients, with special ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) bags. Five years after the foundation, the commercial orientation of the company took place.
Stedim's journey mirrors Sartorius's own transformation in microcosm. Founded in 1978, the French company began by developing specialized bags for medical applications, then recognized that the same single-use technology could revolutionize biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
Stedim's shift to biotechnology was a pivotal moment, driven by the potential of single-use technology. The company recognized the advantages of single-use bag systems for the biopharmaceutical industry. This move revolutionized the sector by offering cost-effective and safer alternatives to traditional methods.
Sartorius acquires a majority stake in Stedim S.A., the world market leader in disposable bag systems, and merged its activities with its own Biotechnology Division. The merger resulted in a leading international partner for biopharmaceutical research and industry. The new Sartorius subgroup, which is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, bears the name Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A., and is headquartered in Aubagne, France.
In 2007, the German company Sartorius took control of Stedim by purchasing 50% of the capital held by the founders, for 152 million euros. The merger combined Stedim's expertise in single-use technologies with Sartorius's strengths in filtration, separation, and cell culture—creating a comprehensive offering for the biopharmaceutical industry.
The Single-Use Revolution
The Stedim merger positioned Sartorius at the forefront of what would become the industry's most significant manufacturing trend: single-use technologies. Traditional biomanufacturing relied on stainless steel vessels that required extensive cleaning and validation between production runs. Single-use equipment—bioreactors, tubing, filters, bags—eliminated that overhead.
Single-use has gone from 20% share in 2018 to 30% industry share. Today biologics are manufactured in batches.
The economics are compelling. Single-use reduces capital expenditure for new facilities, minimizes cleaning validation requirements, enables faster changeover between products, and reduces cross-contamination risk. For contract manufacturers producing multiple drugs for multiple clients, single-use is nearly essential.
Single-use drives consumables: 75% of sales at Sartorius Group and 80% of sales at Stedim are recurring in nature.
This statistic reveals the elegant business model that emerged from the transformation. When 75-80% of revenue comes from consumables—filters, bags, tubing, media—rather than one-time equipment sales, you've built a recurring revenue machine with high switching costs and predictable cash flows.
Strategic Sharpening: Divesting the Past
In 2014, Sartorius made a bold strategic decision. In 2014, Sartorius further sharpened its focus by selling its industrial weighing business and organizing into two divisions: "Bioprocess Solutions" (BPS) and "Lab Products & Services" (LPS).
This was the final break with the company's 144-year weighing heritage. Sartorius retained laboratory balances—high-precision instruments used in research and quality control—but exited industrial weighing applications. The message was clear: Sartorius was now a life science company, not a diversified instrument manufacturer.
The Unique Dual-Listing Structure
One of the most distinctive aspects of Sartorius's corporate structure emerged from the Stedim merger. Sartorius has two separate listed entities: Sartorius AG (listed in Germany), and Sartorius Stedim Biotech (listed in France). While SAG owns 100% of LPS division, it owns 74% of SSB shares (the BPS division) but 85% of voting rights. As a result, SSB has ~26% free float and the minority shareholders in aggregate have ~15% voting rights.
This structure creates complexity for investors but served important strategic purposes. The French listing gave Sartorius access to French capital markets and French investors. The separate entity preserved Stedim's identity and allowed more targeted compensation structures. And the voting/economic split ensured Sartorius AG maintained strategic control while allowing minority shareholders to participate in the Bioprocess division's growth.
For investors, the Kreuzburg era demonstrated that patient, focused capital allocation—resisting diversification temptations while building deep capabilities in a growing end market—can generate extraordinary long-term returns. The company's willingness to divest legacy businesses and concentrate resources on its strongest growth vectors proved essential to its transformation.
V. M&A-Fueled Growth: Building the Bioprocessing Powerhouse (2015–2019)
The Acquisition Machine
By 2015, Sartorius had established the strategic template that would guide its growth for the next decade: identify leading technologies that complement existing capabilities, acquire them, integrate them into the platform, and sell comprehensive solutions to biopharmaceutical customers.
In 2015, Sartorius Acquired the cell line and process development company Cellca. This acquisition expanded capabilities into the earliest stages of biologic drug development—creating the cell lines that would eventually be scaled up using Sartorius equipment.
The following year brought two important additions. In 2016, the company acquired two North American flow cytometry companies, IntelliCyt ($90 million) and ViroCyt ($16 million). Flow cytometry is essential for characterizing cell populations during bioprocess development and quality control—another capability that strengthened the integrated offering.
In 2017, the company acquired cell-based assay and instrumentation firm Essen BioScience, from private equity owner SFW Capital Partners, for $320 million. Essen BioScience brought live-cell imaging and analysis capabilities, enabling researchers to monitor cell behavior in real-time during process development.
Through its subgroup, SSB Sartorius acquired the Swiss-based Wave Biotech AG in 2008. Wave Biotech is a provider of single-use bioreactors. This earlier acquisition had established Sartorius's position in rocking motion bioreactors—a key technology for certain cell types and applications.
The Strategic Logic
Sartorius's acquisition strategy follows a coherent logic that differentiates it from conglomerate diversification. Every acquisition fits within the biopharmaceutical value chain: from cell line development (Cellca), through process development (Essen BioScience, IntelliCyt), to production (bioreactors, filtration, fluid management), and quality control (bioanalytics).
Collaborative R&D partnerships are amplifying Sartorius's competitive edge. The company has formalized agreements with BICO subsidiaries (e.g., CELLINK, MatTek) to develop 3D tissue models and automated workflows for drug discovery. Additionally, a strategic cooperation with VectorBuilder targets advancements in gene vector and mRNA production, including GMP-compliant processes for cell and gene therapies. These partnerships not only diversify Sartorius's innovation pipeline but also strengthen its role as a one-stop provider for complex biopharma solutions.
The company also expanded geographically. A new production building for the injection molding of plastic parts was opened in Göttingen in 2013. In the same year, the new Asia sales center of the Sartorius Group was inaugurated in Shanghai, from which all sales and marketing activities for China and for the entire Asia region are controlled.
Building the Technology Platform
By 2019, Sartorius had assembled a formidable technology portfolio spanning the entire bioprocess workflow:
Upstream Processing: Bioreactors (stirred-tank, rocking motion, and single-use variants), cell culture media, cell line development services
Downstream Processing: Filtration systems (depth, sterile, viral), chromatography equipment and consumables, single-use assemblies
Process Development: High-throughput bioreactor systems (ambr platform), live-cell analysis, flow cytometry, bioanalytics
Lab Products: Precision balances, pipettes, lab water systems, quality control instruments
In 2019, the company acquired the Israel cell culture media developer and manufacturer Biological Industries. Cell culture media—the nutrient solutions that feed growing cells—represented another high-margin consumable business with recurring revenue characteristics.
For investors, this period demonstrated several important attributes: disciplined acquisition integration (no major integration failures despite numerous deals), strategic clarity (every acquisition served the bioprocess platform), and geographic expansion (building presence in key growth markets like China). The company was laying the groundwork for what would become an extraordinary acceleration.
VI. The COVID Inflection Point: Pandemic Boom (2020–2021)
The Perfect Storm for Bioprocessing
When COVID-19 emerged in early 2020, the biopharmaceutical industry faced an unprecedented challenge: develop, test, and manufacture vaccines at a scale and speed never before attempted. Sartorius found itself at the center of this effort.
In the race to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus, Sartorius currently works with around 80% of the more than 60 companies that have a vaccine against the coronavirus in development or already in the clinical test phases.
Sartorius announced that it has supported CanSino Biologics Inc. in the development of a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2. The candidate is a recombinant vaccine and Sartorius' BIOSTAT® STR single-use bioreactor system was utilized for its upstream preparation, enabling rapid linear amplification of the adenovirus vector.
For the last decade, Sartorius has collaborated with biopharmaceutical companies to help manufacture vaccines for infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics like Ebola, Zika, and H1N1. The industry's response to the COVID-19 pandemic proved the importance of collaboration to reimagine vaccine development.
The pandemic validated everything Sartorius had built over the previous decade. Single-use technologies enabled rapid facility buildout without the years-long lead times of traditional stainless steel installations. Flexible bioprocess platforms could adapt to new modalities like mRNA vaccines. Integrated suppliers could deliver complete solutions when speed was paramount.
Explosive Growth Numbers
The financial impact was dramatic. The Bioprocess Solutions division became the primary growth engine, driven by demand for vaccine and antiviral manufacturing equipment and consumables.
The pandemic effect manifested through multiple channels:
- Direct vaccine/antiviral demand: Equipment and consumables for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing
- Supply chain security: Customers building inventory buffers to protect against shortages
- Accelerated single-use adoption: Traditional manufacturers fast-tracking transitions to single-use
- Capacity expansion: Both pharma companies and CDMOs investing in new manufacturing capacity
The Danaher Portfolio Acquisition
Even during the pandemic's height, Sartorius continued its acquisition strategy. The company acquired selected assets of Danaher Corporation, including products for the research and development of cell therapies in 2020.
This acquisition expanded Sartorius's capabilities in the rapidly growing cell therapy space—CAR-T therapies, gene-modified cells, and other advanced therapeutic modalities that represent the next frontier in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
Joining Germany's Elite Index
In September 2021, Sartorius has been admitted to the DAX, Germany's largest stock market index.
In September 2021, Sartorius was included in the DAX 40 index, confirming the company's increased relevance in the German capital market.
DAX membership brought increased visibility among institutional investors, index fund buying pressure, and recognition as one of Germany's most important companies. Since its inclusion in the DAX 40 in September 2021, Sartorius represents a modest weighting of 0.33% (measured in June 2025) within the German stock market index.
The Double-Edged Sword
The pandemic created extraordinary demand, but it also sowed the seeds of future challenges. Customers facing uncertain supply chains ordered aggressively, building inventory buffers far above normal levels. Lead times extended. Orders arrived earlier than historical patterns would suggest.
This inventory dynamic would prove critically important in understanding the post-pandemic normalization—and the painful unwinding that followed.
For investors, the COVID period demonstrated both the power of Sartorius's platform and the cyclical risks inherent in supplying a rapidly growing industry. When your customers are racing to build capacity, you capture enormous incremental demand. But that demand can collapse equally quickly when the urgency fades.
VII. The Hangover: Post-Pandemic Normalization (2022–2024)
The Painful Unwinding
"For the entire life science industry, 2024 was characterized by a challenging market situation: the pandemic-related destocking at customers, which lasted much longer than expected, the reluctance to invest, and the Chinese market, which remained very weak. Not only, but also in view of these conditions, we are satisfied with the results we achieved. The trend is increasingly positive. Business development in the second half of the year, and especially in the final quarter, confirms our estimate that the temporary weakness in demand is coming to an end and that the industry will gradually return to its robust, structurally underlying growth trend."
The post-pandemic hangover proved more severe and prolonged than anyone anticipated. The same inventory building that had boosted 2020-2021 results now reversed with a vengeance. Customers who had ordered 18-24 months of supplies now needed to work through that inventory before placing new orders.
2023: Year of Normalization
The numbers tell the story of a difficult year.
Management identified multiple headwinds: inventory destocking that lasted longer than expected, reduced production levels at some customers, discontinued business in Russia following the Ukraine invasion, and muted investment activity particularly in China and the US.
The China Challenge
China emerged as a particular pain point. The world's second-largest pharmaceutical market, which had been a growth engine for bioprocess suppliers, experienced a pronounced slowdown driven by multiple factors: regulatory changes affecting the domestic pharmaceutical industry, US-China tensions creating uncertainty about technology transfers, and aggressive local competition from emerging Chinese suppliers.
Strategic Acquisition: Polyplus (2023)
Despite the challenging environment, Sartorius maintained its acquisition strategy with a significant deal. Polyplus, provider of innovative upstream technologies for cell and gene therapies is being acquired by Sartorius Stedim Biotech for a purchase price of approximately 2.4 billion euros. Sartorius Stedim Biotech, a leading international partner of the biopharmaceutical industry, has signed an agreement to acquire Polyplus for approximately 2.4 billion euros from private investors, including ARCHIMED and WP GG Holdings IV B.V., an affiliate of Warburg Pincus.
Polyplus, with around 270 employees, develops and produces transfection as well as other DNA/RNA delivery reagents and plasmid DNA in high quality and GMP grade. These are key components in the production of viral vectors used in cell and gene therapies and other advanced medicinal therapeutic products.
The life science group Sartorius, through its French listed subgroup Sartorius Stedim Biotech, has successfully closed the acquisition of the French company Polyplus. The transaction was completed on July 18, 2023, after receiving the required regulatory approvals.
The Polyplus acquisition represented a significant bet on cell and gene therapy—a sector experiencing its own normalization after initial enthusiasm. But the strategic logic remained sound: these advanced therapies represent the future of medicine, and Sartorius wanted exposure to critical enabling technologies.
Industry-Wide Impact
Sartorius wasn't alone in facing challenges. The entire life science tools sector experienced similar dynamics: Danaher's Cytiva business, Thermo Fisher Scientific's bioproduction segment, and Merck KGaA's Life Science division all reported post-pandemic normalization effects. This industry-wide pattern suggested structural rather than company-specific factors at work.
2024: Stabilization
Preliminary business results for 2024: sales revenue at 3,381 million euros (+ 0.1 percent in constant currencies), underlying profit margin reaches 28.0 percent. Order intake + 10.8 percent, demand increasingly picking up in the second half of the year.
The life science group Sartorius has, according to preliminary figures, maintained its strong market position and high profitability in 2024, and generated sales revenue at the previous year's level despite the difficult industry environment that lasted longer than expected. The company fully met its growth and profitability targets, as adjusted at mid-year. For 2025, management expects profitable, moderate growth above market level.
By late 2024, signs of stabilization emerged. Order intake growth turned positive. The second half of the year showed improving trends. While the recovery remained uneven—with China still weak and equipment investment subdued—the worst appeared to be over.
For investors, the 2022-2024 period offered crucial lessons about the volatility inherent in bioprocess supply chains. The same dynamics that create explosive growth during periods of rapid capacity expansion can reverse equally dramatically during normalization. Understanding the industry's inventory cycles and capacity investment patterns is essential for valuing bioprocess suppliers appropriately.
VIII. Current State & Leadership Transition (2024–2025)
The Kreuzburg Legacy
After 22 years at the helm of the company, I will be handing over the chairmanship of the Sartorius Executive Board at the end of June. This is therefore the last time I will be addressing you in this form.
"Sartorius owes Joachim Kreuzburg an extraordinary amount. With his dynamic entrepreneurial qualities, he has transformed the company into an internationally leading and particularly profitable life science group, expanded the technology and product portfolio enormously and built up an outstanding team."
During his tenure, Sartorius' sales increased more than 7-fold to around EUR 3.4 billion, profits more than 26-fold to just under EUR 1 billion, the number of employees quadrupled to almost 14,000, while the Group's stock market valuation rose from just over EUR 90 million to just over EUR 14 billion.
During his tenure as CEO of Sartorius (2003–2025), the company expanded from a regional player into a global leader in bioprocessing, growing revenue from approximately €0.5 billion to approximately €3.5 billion and increasing the market capitalization of the group by a factor of approximately 150.
The New Leadership
At its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of Sartorius AG appointed Dr. Michael Grosse Chief Executive Officer of Sartorius. He will take over this position on July 1, 2025.
Michael Grosse (57) holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering and has held various management and board positions in the packaging industry for the pharmaceutical and food sector over the past 20 years.
Appointed CEO of Sartorius AG in December 2024, Michael Grosse was previously Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Syntegon Technology, a leading international provider of process and packaging solutions based in Germany, from 2020 to 2023.
Although his contract was set to expire in November 2025, he stepped down at the end of June, quickly joining Cube less than two weeks later. Upon announcing his departure, Kreuzburg said he would not seek a top-level executive position, telegraphing his desire to remain in a supportive and advisory role, at least in the short term.
Cube Biotech GmbH announced the appointment of Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg, former CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sartorius AG, to its Board of Directors, effective July 3rd, 2025.
2025 Performance and Outlook
The life science group Sartorius continued its profitable growth course and considerably increased both sales revenue and profitability in the first nine months of fiscal 2025. "We are very positive about our progress this year so far. With double-digit growth, our high-margin consumables business remains our key growth driver. Even though customers are still cautious about investing in equipment and instruments, this business is stabilizing. It is equally encouraging to see that the lab division is proving resilient in a persistently challenging market environment and keeps catching up."
The company now expects sales revenue growth at Group level of around 7 percent (previously: around 6 percent organic growth with a forecast range of about plus/minus two percentage points). This includes an inorganic growth contribution of around 0.3 percent. The Bioprocess Solutions Division is anticipated to reach the upper end of the previously defined bandwidth and grow by around 9 percent.
Sales revenue reached €1,490 million in the first half of 2025, a 9.4% increase year-over-year. Underlying EBITDA increased by 19.3% to €462 million in the same period. Projected organic sales revenue growth for fiscal year 2025 is around 7%. Anticipated underlying EBITDA margin for 2025 is approximately 30% to 31%.
In 2024, Sartorius Stedim Biotech reported sales revenue of 2,780 million euros, showing a slight growth. The first quarter of fiscal year 2025 saw double-digit sales growth of 10.4 percent, reaching 745 million euros. The underlying EBITDA for Q1 2025 was 229 million euros, with an EBITDA margin of 30.8%.
The transition appears to be proceeding smoothly, with the new leadership inheriting a recovering business and a well-defined strategic direction.
IX. Bull vs. Bear: The Investment Case
The Bull Case
1. Structural Growth Drivers Remain Intact
By 2050, the world's population will expand to more than 9.5 billion people, around 1.6 billion of whom will be aged over 65 with an above-average need for medical care. Drug approval rates are at high levels and there are numerous promising drug candidates, that address severe diseases. In addition, the field of advanced therapies continues to develop dynamically.
The fundamental thesis for bioprocess suppliers rests on demographics (aging populations), medical innovation (biologic drugs displacing small molecules), and geographic expansion (emerging markets building pharmaceutical capacity). None of these drivers has changed; COVID accelerated demand temporarily but didn't alter the structural trajectory.
The single-use bioprocessing market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 18.01 billion in 2025 to USD 33.67 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 13.3% during the forecast period. Several factors contribute to the growth of the single-use bioprocessing market, including the growing adoption among CDMOs & CMOs, increased productivity, reduced risk of cross-contamination, and the requirement for low capital investment.
The global large and small-scale bioprocessing market size was estimated at USD 80.5 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 228.7 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 11.86% from 2025 to 2033. This substantial growth is primarily driven by the increasing global demand for biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, and cell and gene therapies.
2. Recurring Revenue Model Creates Stability
75% of sales at Sartorius Group and 80% of sales at Stedim are recurring in nature.
Once a biopharma manufacturer validates a process using Sartorius equipment and consumables, switching costs are enormous. Regulatory filings reference specific materials; changing suppliers requires revalidation that can take years and cost millions. This creates durable competitive advantages and predictable revenue streams.
3. Leading Market Positions
The global single-use bioreactors market is competitive, with Sartorius AG (Germany), Danaher Corporation (US), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (US) and Merck KGaA (Germany) accounting for the 70-80% of the market share globally.
Sartorius is now the unbeaten leader in upstream processes, which is crucial as upstream is the start of the process.
4. Cell and Gene Therapy Exposure
The Polyplus acquisition and other investments position Sartorius well for advanced therapies—CAR-T, gene therapies, mRNA vaccines—that represent the highest-growth segments of biopharmaceuticals.
Monoclonal antibodies contributed 36.64% of 2024 revenues, driven by expanding oncology and autoimmune portfolios and a steady trickle of biosimilar launches. CGT pipelines, however, are charting the steepest trajectory at a 16.33% CAGR through 2030.
The Bear Case
1. Competitive Intensity
Cytiva and Pall, another Danaher brand, are giants and by far the number one. They are true end-to-end providers, with the advantage of bundling a lot with their chromatography business, which is very profitable. This gives them leverage to push other technologies.
Sartorius competes against some of the world's most capable industrial companies. Danaher (through Cytiva), Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Merck KGaA all have deeper pockets, broader product lines, and significant scale advantages in certain segments.
2. China Risk
From a regional perspective, the demand recovery was visible in all business regions except for Asia/Pacific, which is significantly influenced by China.
China represents both opportunity and risk. The market remains weak, local competitors are emerging, and geopolitical tensions create uncertainty. US-China decoupling could disrupt supply chains and limit market access.
3. Valuation Sensitivity
Even after the post-pandemic correction, Sartorius trades at premium multiples reflecting its growth profile and market position. Any disappointment in growth rates or margin expansion could trigger significant multiple compression.
4. Integration Risk
The company's growth-through-acquisition strategy requires consistent execution. The €2.4 billion Polyplus acquisition needs to deliver on its promise; integration failures could destroy significant value.
Porter's Five Forces Analysis
Threat of New Entrants: LOW Bioprocess validation requirements create enormous barriers. Customers won't risk production with unproven suppliers when regulatory filings reference specific validated processes.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: MODERATE Sartorius sources specialized materials but has multiple suppliers for most components. Some raw materials (specialty plastics, filtration media) have concentrated supplier bases.
Bargaining Power of Buyers: MODERATE Large pharma companies have significant purchasing power, but switching costs limit their leverage. CDMOs and smaller biotechs have less bargaining power.
Threat of Substitutes: LOW Single-use technology has largely displaced traditional stainless steel for new capacity additions. No immediate technological substitute threatens current platforms.
Competitive Rivalry: HIGH The industry consolidation that created a few dominant players also intensified competition among those players. Price pressure exists, particularly on standardized consumables.
Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers Framework
Scale Economies: Moderate. Manufacturing single-use consumables benefits from scale, but customization requirements limit advantages.
Network Effects: Limited. Some data sharing and process knowledge within customer installations creates minor network effects.
Counter-Positioning: Strong historically. Sartorius's early commitment to single-use created advantages that legacy stainless-steel players struggled to match.
Switching Costs: Very Strong. Regulatory validation requirements create durable switching costs that lock in customers for years.
Branding: Moderate. Sartorius has strong brand recognition in the industry, but technical specifications often matter more than brand.
Cornered Resource: Moderate. Accumulated process knowledge and customer relationships represent proprietary assets, but talent can move.
Process Power: Strong. The integration of acquisitions and development of comprehensive platform solutions represents accumulated process advantages that are difficult to replicate quickly.
X. Key Metrics for Investors
For investors monitoring Sartorius's ongoing performance, several KPIs warrant close attention:
1. Order Intake Growth (Constant Currency)
Order intake leads revenue by 1-3 quarters and signals demand trends before they appear in reported financials. The pandemic period demonstrated how dramatically order patterns can swing—and how inventory dynamics can amplify or distort underlying demand signals.
2. Recurring Revenue Mix
Track the percentage of revenue from consumables versus equipment. Higher recurring revenue provides more predictable cash flows and indicates deeper customer relationships. A declining consumables percentage could signal competitive pressure or customer destocking.
3. Underlying EBITDA Margin
Sartorius targets margins in the 30-35% range over time. Margin compression could indicate pricing pressure, product mix shifts, or investment cycles. Margin expansion above targets might suggest operating leverage or favorable mix.
Why These Metrics Matter:
- Order intake reveals demand direction before revenue
- Recurring revenue indicates business quality and switching cost durability
- EBITDA margin captures operating efficiency and pricing power
XI. Conclusion: The Picks & Shovels Investment Thesis
The picks-and-shovels metaphor—derived from the observation that merchants who sold supplies to Gold Rush miners often fared better than the miners themselves—captures Sartorius's position in the biopharmaceutical industry. Whether a particular drug succeeds or fails, whether a biotech company thrives or goes bankrupt, Sartorius sells the essential equipment and consumables they need along the way.
Simplifying Progress. This is the promise Sartorius makes in particular to its customers in life sciences research and the biopharmaceutical industry. In 2024, we remained true to our word once more - with innovative products and partnerships that help accelerate drug development and make the production of biopharmaceuticals more efficient. Sartorius once again maintained its strong market position and achieved its adjusted growth and profitability targets for the fiscal year.
The company's 155-year journey from a precision mechanics workshop to a global bioprocessing leader represents one of the most successful corporate transformations in German industrial history. The key decisions—pivoting to biotechnology in the 1990s, acquiring B. Braun Biotech, merging with Stedim, divesting legacy businesses, building the acquisition machine—each required conviction and patience that few management teams can sustain.
The leadership transition from Kreuzburg to Grosse marks the end of an era. For 22 years, Kreuzburg guided Sartorius through its transformation, built the M&A capabilities, navigated the COVID boom and bust, and positioned the company for continued growth. His successor inherits a business that has emerged from the post-pandemic normalization with its market positions intact, its balance sheet solid, and its strategic direction clear.
Viewed over the long term, the development is exceptionally positive: in the past ten years, our company's market capitalization has increased around eightfold. Looking ahead, we are confident about our company's future, as the fundamental growth drivers of the life science and biopharmaceutical industries remain very positive.
The coming years will test whether Sartorius can maintain its competitive position against well-resourced rivals, execute on the cell and gene therapy opportunity, navigate geopolitical uncertainties, and continue the disciplined capital allocation that characterized the Kreuzburg era. For investors who believe in the long-term growth of biopharmaceuticals and want exposure through a pure-play platform company, Sartorius offers a compelling case study in strategic transformation and sustained value creation.
MYTH VS. REALITY
| Consensus Narrative | Reality Check |
|---|---|
| "COVID growth was sustainable" | Pandemic demand included significant inventory building and pull-forward; normalization was inevitable and prolonged |
| "Bioprocessing is recession-proof" | While less cyclical than equipment capex, bioprocess consumables still correlate with customer production volumes, which can fluctuate |
| "China is the growth market" | China remains important but faces local competition, geopolitical tensions, and regulatory uncertainty |
| "Single-use has won" | Single-use dominates new capacity additions but traditional stainless steel remains significant for legacy facilities and certain applications |
| "Premium valuation justified by growth" | Historical growth rates may not persist; normalization revealed vulnerability to inventory cycles |
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investors should conduct their own due diligence before making investment decisions.
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