Sartorius Stedim Biotech agreed to buy Polyplus, a maker of components for cell and gene therapies, for about €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) from a group of private investors.

The deal would bolster Sartorius’s portfolio of drug-delivery technologies, creating a deeper focus on the fast-growing field of viral vectors, which are tools used to deliver genetic material into cells.

Sartorius Stedim shares fell about 7% early March 31 in Paris. The company is a French-listed subsidiary of German life sciences company Sartorius AG.

The owners of Polyplus include Archimed and WP GG Holdings IV BV, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus. The firm has about 270 employees, according to a statement.

Founded in 2001, Polyplus focused on marketing so-called transfection reagents — used for delivering genetic information into cells — to research scientists, according to the company website. In recent years, it has expanded its portfolio to include other technologies that cater to developers of gene and cell therapies.

The company, based in Strasbourg, France, is showing “significant” growth, and is expected to generate revenue in the upper double-digit million-euro range, as well as a “very substantial Ebitda margin” this year, according to the statement.