Singapore: Sartorius Stedim Biotech, a biosupplier giant for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, plans to acquire UK company TAP Biosystems Group.

The proposed transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of TAP's shareholders, values the equity of TAP Biosystems at approximately $44.8 million (Euro 33 million). The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close at the end of 2013.

In making the announcement, Mr. Joachim Kreuzburg, the Chief Executive of Sartorius Stedim Biotech, stated, "TAP Biosystems' fermentors are a great fit extending our reach into the small scale cell culture applications. Adding capabilities in the early steps of upstream bioprocessing will enable us to provide our biopharma customers highly effective and scalable solutions to accelerate cell line selection, speed-up process development and ultimately help them bringing their biologics to market faster".

TAP Biosystems specializes in the design and development of small-scale, multi-parallel fermentation systems particularly for biopharmaceutical applications. With its ambr-product family, the company has launched a novel platform technology for single-use fermentation that is designed to mimic mammalian cell culture at small scale, a highly innovative alternative to conventional systems.

Welcoming the acquisition, Mr. David Newble, CEO of TAP Biosystems, said, "As a market leader in bioprocessing technologies with a strong position in fermentation, Sartorius Stedim Biotech is well-placed to maximize the opportunities of our novel, highly innovative cell culture technologies. We look forward to joining such a well-recognized organization as Sartorius Stedim that will enable us to grow our business further with a wealth of complementary technologies and products".