EAG -- a private company, majority owned by Odyssey Investment Partners – was interested in ABC partly for its offerings in analytical testing services, including development and cGMP (current good manufacturing practice) and GLP-compliant testing capabilities for small and large molecule therapies and medical devices.
Kristein King, VP of marketing and communications at ABC, told us the company has been “hiring aggressively” over the past year, with 40 new staff added since the beginning of the year.
Following the closure of the acquisition, ABC will continue to operate as ABC, though the integration of the two companies “will be slow, deliberate and well-planned,” King said. She added that planning on the integration will begin next month.
High opportunity areas for ABC are in large molecule development, particularly around CMC (chemistry, manufacturing and control) support for biopharmaceuticals.
Siddhartha Kadia, CEO of EAG, said: "The combination of the EAG ChemEco and ABC businesses will provide an unparalleled capacity for scientific studies in biology and chemistry, and specifically in analytical chemistry, residue analysis, avian and aquatic ecotoxicology studies, plant metabolism testing, and environmental fate studies. In addition, ABC enables us to enter the small and large molecule pharmaceutical contract research business, one of the most dynamic and largest end markets in analytical laboratory testing."
The acquisition comes as ABC has recently taken stock in companies in exchange for development services for two firms developing cancer treatments.
John Bucksath, CEO of ABC, added, "EAG has considerable resources, vision and interest in growing its presence in both the agrochemicals and life sciences markets, and we are confident that as part of EAG, ABC will be even better positioned in the marketplace to broaden its service offerings and capabilities."