Sorin Group Concludes Sale of Its Renal Care Business to Investment Consortium Led by Argos Soditic and MPS Venture SGR

Deal completes divestiture program to focus Sorin Group on its core cardiovascular business

Sorin Group Concludes Sale of Its Renal Care Business to Investment Consortium Led by Argos Soditic and MPS Venture SGR

Sorin Group, (MIL:SRN) (Reuters Code: SORN.MI), a global company and a leader in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, announced today that it has completed the divestiture of its Renal Care Business to an investment consortium led by Argos Soditic, an independent European private equity firm, and MPS Venture SGR, on behalf of the closed-end fund ‘Emilia Venture’. The new owners have purchased the entire Sorin renal care business worldwide, under the brands Bellco and Laboratoire Soludia, recognised leaders in innovative therapies for the treatment of acute and chronic dialysis patients.

The transaction completes Sorin’s program of strategic divestitures, and follows the sale of the Sorin Group endovascular business to Datascope in June, and the sale of the coronary stent business to IP Investimenti e Partecipazioni on December 1 ^st .

" This transaction concludes our plan to restructure Sorin’s business portfolio, allowing us to better focus on our heart valves, cardiopulmonary and cardiac rhythm management businesses. We therefore look forward to accelerating innovation and growth in Sorin’s core cardiovascular franchise in 2009,” said Andre-Michel Ballester, C.E.O. of Sorin Group.

" The management and employees of Sorin’s renal care business are very excited by this transaction. We believe the strategic focus brought by new ownership will enhance our ability to deliver both financial success and therapeutic benefits to our patients and customers," said Stefano Rimondi, Vice President, Renal Care Business Unit.

As a consequence of the divestiture, Sorin Group will deconsolidate retroactively as of January 1st 2008 the results of the divested business activities line by line. These results will be recognized as Earnings from discontinued operations.

The estimated impact will represent (on a full-year basis):

Revenues - € 98 million

EBIT - € 6 million

EBITDA - € 12 million

Net Debt will also be positively impacted by approximately € 10 million in 2008, as a result of the net proceeds of the disposal and debt deconsolidation, and by an additional € 38 million in 2009, as a result of the settlement of the receivables and payables associated with the Renal Care Business Unit. The net proceeds of the disposal will be used to pay down debt.

The consolidated estimated loss on disposal of assets associated with the divestiture will be approximately € 26 million, including a € 1 million restructuring charge for realignment expenses associated with the divestiture.

As a result, the Company modifies its full year 2008 guidance as follows:

		Original guidance As of January 15, 2008		Guidance as revised following Vascular Therapy divestiture		New Guidance following Renal Care divestiture
Revenues		flat		1% growth		1% growth
EBIT margin		>5%		>6%		>6%
EBITDA margin		>11.5%		>12%		>12%
Net Debt		<280 million		< 277 million		< 267 million

About the Sorin Group

Sorin Group ( www.sorin.com ) is a global company and a leader in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The Company develops, manufactures and markets medical technologies for cardiac surgery and for the treatment of cardiac rhythm disorders.

With 3,500 employees worldwide, the Group focuses on three major therapeutic areas that include: cardiopulmonary bypass (extracorporeal circulation and autotransfusion systems), cardiac rhythm management, and heart valve repair and replacement. Every year, over 1 million patients are treated with the devices of Sorin Group in more than 80 countries.

For more information, please visit: www.sorin.com or contact:

Martine Konorski						Carla Vidra
Director, Corporate Communications						Investor Relations
Sorin Group						Tel: +39 02 69969716
Tel: +33 (0)1 46 01 33 78						e-mail: carla.vidra@sorin.com
Mobile: +33 (0)6 76 12 67 73
e-mail: martine.konorski@sorin.com

About Argos Soditic

Created in 1989, Argos Soditic is an independent European private equity firm with offices in Paris, Geneva and Milan, wholly owned and operated by its partners. Argos Soditic focuses on management buy-outs and buy-ins in small and medium sized companies across Europe, but primarily in France, Italy and Switzerland. The firm has developed a unique strategy of carrying our projects that require deep involvement with the financial shareholders and managers of companies (MBO, MBI, BIMBO, spin-off, reorganization, build-up) it acquires. The group of funds managed by the firm typically takes majority stakes ranging from €5m to €50m in companies with revenues of €20m to €400m. Argos Soditic prefers to invest in companies with the capacity to become a leader in a business niche. Examples of the operations Argos Soditic has carried out include Buffet Crampon (musical instruments), Roc-Eclerc (services), Oxbow (surf wear brand), Du Pareil au Même (children’s clothing), Kermel (flame retardant chemicals), and Eau Ecarlate (stain removing brand) in France, Sparco (racing accessories) and GPP (packaging) in Italy, and Maillefer (machinery), Axyntis (specialty pharma and chemicals) and ORS (services) in Switzerland. In 2006, the firm announced the closing of a new €275m fund, Argos Soditic V, which has allowed the firm to carry out nine transactions to date: four MBOs (Driver/Sitour, GPP, FHB and Orsyp), two BIMBOs (Axyntis and Marie Laure PLV), one spin-off (Alkan) and two MBI (Chronolyss and Mertz).

For more information, please visit: www.argos-soditic.com or contact:

Mirco Dilda Partner and Francesco Pintucci, Associate: Tel: +39 0200660700

About MPS Venture SGR S.p.A

MPS Venture SGR, a company of the Montepaschi banking group, operates since 2003 in the management of closed-end investment funds for the Italian domestic territory. At present, MPS Venture, leader in Italy for the number of managed funds, manages 6 private equity funds for a total of approximately Euro 360 million.

MPS Venture SGR invests in medium size companies operating in the industrial, commercial and service industry sectors providing professional support throughout investment development projects. To date MPS Venture has made 36 investments in Italy and 16 divestments.

For more information, please visit: www.mpsventure.it or contact:

Marco Canale Tel: +39 055 2498 549, Deputy General Manager

About Medeor Associates

Medeor Associates is an advisory firm specialized in organizing M&A projects in the Healthcare field. Founding partners of Medeor Associates are Carlo Vanoli, Andrea Pavero and Maurizio Zucca.

For more information, please visit:  www.medeorassociates.com

Contact:

Sorin Group
Martine Konorski, +33 (0)1 46 01 33 78
Director, Corporate Communications
Mobile: +33 (0)6 76 12 67 73
martine.konorski@sorin.com
or
Carla Vidra, +39 02 69969716
Investor Relations
carla.vidra@sorin.com