- Leading data analytics software to optimize process development and production of biopharmaceuticals
- Swedish company already an SSB cooperation partner since 2012
- 2017 financial guidance confirmed
Aubagne, April 3, 2017 – Sartorius Stedim Biotech, a leading supplier to the biopharma industry, today acquired the Umetrics business (MKS Instruments AB) from the U.S. based MKS Instruments Group. Umetrics is a highly specialized, globally leading provider of data analytics software for modeling and optimizing development and manufacturing processes. SSB has been a cooperation partner of Umetrics since the end of 2012, distributing and co-marketing their software to major players in the biopharmaceutical industry.
SSB purchased Umetrics for $72.5 million on a cash and debt- free basis. The company is expected to generate sales revenue on a full-year basis of approximately $15 million and a significant double-digit underlying EBTIDA margin in 2017. Headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, Umetrics employs approximately 50 people.
Oscar-Werner Reif, member of the Executive Committee of SSB, said: “Powerful data analytics software tools are key when it comes to running state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical factories of the future. We will provide our customers with the best-suited tools to monitor and optimize their processes and fulfill their documentation requirements for regulatory bodies.” Jakob Mohr Christensen, Managing Director of Umetrics, said: “We are very pleased to become part of SSB as it provides the opportunity to further gain access to key customers and accelerate the penetration of our best-in-class software solutions.”
Major application areas for Umetrics software systems are critical process steps, such as cell culture processes or specific purification steps in the biopharmaceutical industry. Applying multivariate data analysis (MVDA) on a number of parameters such as glucose and lactate, process variations and their causes can be displayed transparently in real time. DoE software (Design of Experiments) permits critical process parameters to be efficiently identified and quantified as well as development cycles to be considerably shortened. Besides biopharma, Umetrics is also serving customers in the chemical and food and beverage industries.
Following the transaction, SSB confirms its financial targets for the full year of 2017. Sales revenue is expected to increase by about 8% to 12% and the underlying EBITDA1 margin to rise by approx. 0.5 percentage points over the prior-year figure of 27.5%, both estimations given in constant currencies. The positive growth effect due to the Umetrics acquisition of around 1 percentage point will be compensated by the somewhat softer customer demand at the beginning of the year as well as by temporarily limited delivery capacities for cell culture media in North America, which are anticipated to have an impact primarily in the first half of 2017.
SSB continues to plan capital expenditures of around 10% to 13% of sales in the current year.
1 Underlying EBITDA=earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for extraordinary items
This press release contains statements about the future development of the Sartorius Stedim Biotech Group. We cannot guarantee that the content of these statements will actually apply because these statements are based upon assumptions and estimates that harbor certain risks and uncertainties.
