SRT Sartorius AG

Today, the Sartorius Group (FWB:SRT) celebrated the official opening of its new laboratory building for biotechnology at its German location in Goettingen. Some 150 guests from the business, scientific and political communities accepted CEO and Executive Board Chairman Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg�s invitation to Sartorius College. The guest of honor was Lower Saxony�s Prime Minister Christian Wulff, who in addition to Prof. Dr. Arnold Picot, Supervisory Board Chairman of Sartorius AG, addressed words of welcome to the attendees. The Senior Executive Director of the prestigious Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Prof. Dr. Rainer Fischer, from Aachen, Germany, gave the celebratory address on the latest developments in the biopharmaceutical field. After just eight months of construction, ultra-modern laboratories, pilot plant stations and offices have taken shape on five stories and covering a total area of some 3,000 square meters. With this new building, Sartorius is expanding its capacity for research and development in biotechnology by 60 percent. �The new building is a further component of our strong focus on innovation,� said Dr.�Joachim Kreuzburg. �In addition, it is visible proof of our confidence in the performance capabilities of our employees and in the potential of the Goettingen location.� Dr. Kreuzburg pointed out that since 2002, research and development spending by the Sartorius Group has been increased by approximately 75 percent. A good 80 percent of the budget is channeled into Goettingen every year, the Group�s main research location, according to Dr.�Kreuzburg. Employees� Council Chairman Uwe Bretthauer emphasized the close interlinkage between the jobs in research and production. �If research is expanded in Goettingen, this is also good news for our employees in production and in related areas.� In the laboratories of the new building, new products and processes for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals are to be developed. In particular, developers are working on innovative disposable technologies that will contribute toward making complex production processes of pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers faster, more efficient, safer and more reliable. In addition to the new labs for cell culture technology and virology, a process-scale test station was built in which customer-specific applications can be tested and optimized. Sartorius primarily contracted construction companies from the region of Lower Saxony to build the new laboratory complex. The topping-off ceremony was celebrated after four months on December 15, 2006. This is a translation of the original German-language press release. Sartorius shall not assume any liability for the correctness of this translation. The original German press release is the legally binding version. Furthermore, Sartorius reserves the right not to be responsible for the topicality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information provided. Liability claims regarding damage caused by the use of any information provided, including any kind of information which is incomplete or incorrect, will therefore be rejected. Current Image Files/Photos The new Sartorius laboratory building for biotechnology at the company�s location in Goettingen, Germany http://www.sartorius.de/fileadmin/presse/Einweihung_Laborneubau.jpg Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg, CEO and Executive Board Chairman of Sartorius http://www.sartorius.com/uploads/media/Dr_Kreuzburg.jpg A profile of Sartorius The Sartorius Group is an internationally leading laboratory and process technology provider covering the segments of biotechnology and mechatronics. In 2006, the technology group earned sales revenue of 521.1 million euros. The Goettingen-based company founded in 1870 currently employs approximately 3,900 persons. Its biotechnology segment focuses on filtration and separation products as well as fermenters and bioreactors. For the mechatronics segment in particular, the company manufactures equipment and systems featuring weighing, measurement and automation technology for laboratory and industrial applications, as well as hydrodynamic bearings. Key Sartorius customers are from the pharmaceutical, chemical and food and beverage industries and from numerous research and educational institutes of the public sector. Sartorius has its own production facilities in Europe, Asia and America as well as sales subsidiaries and local commercial agencies in more than 110 countries.