Eurofins on buying binge

Testing and laboratory services firm Eurofins Scientific has acquired Selcia, a 17-year-old, U.K.-based provider of drug discovery services. The acquisition is Eurofins’s fourth this year. Last year it made about 40 acquisitions. Financial details were not disclosed. The Selcia acquisition allows Eurofins to enter the custom radiolabeling and preclinical integrated drug discovery services market. Eurofins notes that the acquisition fills a strategic gap in its service to customers. Selcia says the acquisition will help it invest to meet demand for carbon-14 radiolabeled compounds. Selcia’s 3,000-m² lab and science team of 70 Ph.D.s are located in Ongar, Essex, about an hour northeast of London. Last month Eurofins bought Craft Technologies, Food Analytica, and Tsing Hua Testing & Analysis. Craft, based in Wilson, N.C., is a contract lab that analyzes food for nutrients, vitamins, bioflavonoids, and phytochemicals. Hungary-based Food Analytica provides food analysis services and conducts grain and molecular biology studies. Eurofins says Tsing Hua is one of the leading environmental testing players in Taiwan. Its services include testing drinking water, air, and fuel.