Sartorius acquires thermoplastics firm Toha Plast

In a deal announced yesterday, Sartorius has bought up the company, which develops and manufactures plastic components for the medical and biotechnology industries, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is effective immediately.

Toha Plast has been a long-term development partner and supplier to Sartorius, working with the company for over 30 years in thermoplastics processing and injection moulding. Sartorius bought up the firm's Puerto Rico production facility in July last year.

Through the acquisition, Sartorius aim to expand the expertise of their biotechnology division in the field of plastics, and strengthen their position in biopharmaceutical disposables. The company has been proactively extending its portfolio of disposables through alliances and its own developments in recent years.

"For our further dynamic growth with disposables, plastics technology has a high strategic significance,"​ says Sartorius CEO Joachim Kreuzberg.

"For this reason, we intend to have this technology available and further develop it within our own group."​

The company already expects positive earnings to be generated through the acquisition in 2007.

Sartorius' biotechnology division focuses on filtration and separation products, and fermenters and bioreactors. Toha Plast brings expertise in injection moulding, cleanroom production, assembling, handling and production. The company also currently manufactures a medical product line, Tohamed.