GÖTTINGEN (dpa-AFX) - The laboratory supplier Sartorius intends to acquire further companies in the coming years. The strategy of making an average of two acquisitions per year is to be continued, Sartorius CEO Joachim Kreuzburg told the German Press Agency. "We are constantly analyzing potential acquisition candidates." Through them, he said, the company gains expertise.

"After all, we are not buying large companies to buy market share," Kreuzburg said. "Rather, we aim to add technologies that broaden our offering, making us even more relevant to our customers." The goal in general, he said, is to speed up the development and manufacture of drugs and reduce the cost of doing so. Among other things, he said, the aim is to speed up testing procedures for new active ingredients, for example through automation. "That is only possible to a very limited extent today."

The head of the DAX-listed company expressed surprise at how well corporate takeovers had worked for Sartorius, even in times of crisis. Even in times of recurring lockdowns, he said, the acquisitions as well as the initial integration steps had been successful./xma/DP/jha