14
December 2012

LGC agrees acquisition of microbiology proficiency testing and reference materials business

LGC is pleased to announce that it has acquired the trade and assets of Bio Senate, a high quality supplier of microbiology proficiency testing and reference materials based in Bury, UK. The business will be merged with LGC Standards, a division of LGC Group and the leading global supplier of reference materials and proficiency testing schemes.

Bio Senate supplies a range of microbiology proficiency testing schemes focused on the food, water and pharmaceutical segments as well as a range of microbiology reference materials, sterile matrix materials and quality control strains to in excess of 700 laboratories worldwide. As such, it is highly complementary to LGC Standards’ existing proficiency testing business - which provides over 1,500 PTs per year to laboratories in over 140 countries worldwide.Participants in the schemes currently offered by Bio Senate will have the opportunity to migrate to comparable schemes offered by LGC Standards, reflecting the considerable overlap in the two sets of schemes and allowing them to benefit from the wider range of schemes available. These enlarged schemes will be beneficial to all participating laboratories by providing them even greater confidence in the validity of their analytical measurements. The Bio Senate range of reference / quality control materials will now be available, along with LGC Standards proficiency testing schemes, through LGC Standards’ global network of sales offices.

Euan O’Sullivan, Managing Director of LGC Standards, commented: “We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of Bio Senate, a business which is highly complementary to our existing activities and which will enable us to further develop the range of proficiency testing schemes and reference / quality control materials that we can offer to our customers. This acquisition further strengthens LGC Standards’ position as a global leader in the provision of proficiency testing schemes.”