Milbank LLP has advised Sartorius group ("Sartorius") on an agreement regarding a comprehensive strategic cooperation with BICO Group AB ("BICO") listed on Large-Cap, Nasdaq Stockholm, a provider of instruments and consumables for bioprinting, bioscience and bioautomation applications in the life science industry, as well as a capital investment in BICO.
Sartorius and BICO have agreed on a comprehensive technology as well as sales and marketing cooperation. To underline the commitment to the partnership, Sartorius subscribed to a directed share issue equivalent to 10% of outstanding shares in BICO prior to the transaction for a price of SEK 76.00 per share, in total approximately SEK 487 million (about EUR 45 million). Added to Sartorius’ already existing holding in BICO, upon settlement the total ownership of Sartorius now amounts to approximately 10.1% of the shares and 8.5% of the voting rights. As part of the partnership, both companies will enter into a research & development collaboration relating to 3D cell printing and associated technologies as well as digital solutions for cell line development workflows. Additionally, it was agreed that Sartorius will become a distributor of BICO products in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
Sartorius is a leading international partner of life science research and the biopharmaceutical industry. With innovative laboratory instruments and consumables, Sartorius’ Lab Products & Services Division concentrates on serving the needs of laboratories performing research and quality control at pharma and biopharma companies and those of academic research institutes. Sartorius has been annually growing by double digits on average and has been regularly expanding its portfolio by acquisitions of complementary technologies.
BICO is a leading provider of life science solutions and laboratory automation that enable more efficient development of new treatments with more specificity and less need for animal testing. With 32,000+ instruments installed in over 65 countries, BICO products and solutions are found in more than 3,500 laboratories, including the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies, and have been cited in over 11,000 publications.
The Milbank team was led by partners Michael Bernhardt (Corporate/M&A) and Philipp Klöckner (Capital Markets) and included associates Sarah-Maria Resch (Corporate/M&A), Mira Zimmermann (Capital Markets) and Lana Bierstedt (Corporate/M&A, all Frankfurt).
Sartorius In-house: Jens Michael Artelt (lead, Head of Legal Affairs & Compliance) and Katrin Sebastian (Head of M&A & Corporate Compliance)
