Sartorius to Buy French Biotech Polyplus for $2.6 Billion (1)

Sartorius Stedim Biotech agreed to buy Polyplus, a maker of components for cell and gene therapies, for about €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) from a group of private investors.

The deal would bolster Sartorius’s portfolio of drug-delivery technologies, creating a deeper focus on the fast-growing field of viral vectors, which are tools used to deliver genetic material into cells.

Sartorius Stedim shares fell about 7% early Friday in Paris. The company is a French-listed subsidiary of German life sciences company Sartorius AG.

The owners of Polyplus include Archimed and WP GG Holdings IV BV, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus. ...