Sartorius places billion-euro bond with Linklaters and Freshfields

First ever bond for Sartorius, the Göttingen-based pharmaceutical and laboratory supplier founded in 1870 that placed three billion euros for the purchase of Polyplus and other general corporate purposes.
The purchase price for the company, sold by the private equity houses Archimed and Warburg Pincus, was around 2.4 billion euros.

To finance the transaction, Sartorius secured a bridge loan from JPMorgan for a transitional period which has now to be refinanced with the net proceeds from the bond issue.

The issue comprises four tranches with maturities ranging from three to twelve years and coupons between 4.313 and 4.940 per cent. The company has applied for admission of the bonds to trading on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Advisors

Sartorius has been advised by Linklaters, and especially by the managing partner Dr. Alexander Schlee (pictured, left) and Peter Waltz (both capital markets), Dr. Christian Hundeshagen and Dr. Ulrich Johann (both tax law), Martin Rojahn (capital markets), and by the associates Dr. Rowina Ullner, Catrin Retzmann, Roman Krug (all capital markets).

The company was also advised by the in-house legal teams composed by Jens Artelt (Head of Legal Affairs & Compliance) and Karsten Frädrich (Head of Legal Affairs Europe/Asia).

For the takeover of Polyplus, Sartorius relied on the US law firm Milbank. It also relied on GvW Graf von Westphalen for aspects of Chinese law and on Allen & Overy for the financing.

The banks have been advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and especially by the managing partner Dr. Christoph Gleske (pictured, right) and by the associates Dr. Nikolaus Bunting, Yannick Griesbach.

JPMorgan has been advised by Hengeler Mueller on the bridge loan.