Sartorius and Stedim in biotech merger

Sartorius has completed the merger of its biotech division with French firm Stedim, it has been revealed.

An extraordinary general meeting held on Friday, June 29th saw the German biopharmaceutical company acquire a share package from the founders of Stedim.

Meanwhile, shareholders appointed members of the board for the newly-combined business and opted to rename the firm Sartorius Stedim Biotech.

Chief executive officer of the new company Joachim Kreuzburg said: "We intensively used the four months between announcement and completion of this combination in order to prepare for integration."

Sartorius is now the majority shareholder in the concern and states that it is soon to make a bid to acquire the remaining shares currently held by investors who had a minority stake in Stedim before the merger.

The company adds that its combined workforce now totals some 2,200 people worldwide and predicts revenue for 2007 of about 400 million euros.