Eurofins acquires Agrisearch Services

Eurofins Scientific, the global leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical product testing services, announces the acquisition of an 81% majority stake in Agrisearch Services, and its wholly owned subsidiaries Agrisearch Analytical and Agrivet Services. Agrisearch is the leading private contract agricultural and biological research organization in Australia and New Zealand.

Founded in 1970, Agrisearch Services generated revenues in excess of AUD 10m in 2012, and employs 80 staff at 3 main facilities and 12 satellite laboratories strategically located across Australia and New Zealand. Agrisearch is a regional industry reference for agricultural and food analyses, and is the only contract research organization (CRO) in the region able to conduct residue studies according to the OECD Principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). It is also a leading analytical laboratory involved in pesticide analysis in food and animal tissues with studies conducted according to ISO 17025. With a comprehensive portfolio of analytical services, Agrisearch offers a one-stop-shop solution for agricultural analyses from the earliest glasshouse and field trials, through to regulatory support and eventual commercialization.

The acquisition reinforces Eurofins' Pacific footprint following its entry into the region with the recent acquisition of mgt-LabMark in Australia and NZLabs and ELS and in New Zealand. Furthermore, Agrisearch strengthens Eurofins' leading position in the global agroscience market. As the largest dedicated agrochemical CRO in the world, Eurofins Agroscience Services has 650 staff across 20 countries offering a complete range of services from global field studies through to physico-chemical property testing.

The strategy of Agrisearch as a one-stop-shop provider of analytical solutions will be further strengthened with access to the complete range of Eurofins' portfolio of technological know-how and services, whilst customers will benefit from the combined competencies and capabilities of the Group.

Comment from Gilles Martin, Eurofins CEO: "The acquisition of Agrisearch should allow Eurofins to accelerate its build-up in Asia Pacific, and reflects our commitment to further strengthen our footprint in the region and our global Agroscience services offering. Agrisearch is an excellent strategic fit to Eurofins' growing operations and we look forward to further strengthening their market position by offering the full range of capabilities of the Eurofins Group."