Mergers and Acquisitions

* On January 9, 2014, Eurofins Scientific, a leader in providing analytical support to the pharmaceutical industry, has announced the signing of an agreement to acquire the assets of the Discovery and Development Solutions (DDS) business of Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck KGaA. The acquisition of DDS strengthens Eurofins' leading presence in the early stage discovery solutions market while adding the most advanced expertise in high-quality bioanalytical services.  After the transaction, DDS will continue to provide products and services to Merck KGaA's pharma business.

As part of the agreement, Eurofins will retain DDS' highly-qualified workforce and leadership, and the business will continue to be led by Christina Shasserre, who has more than ten years' experience in the laboratory services market and has been heading the DDS business since 2010. Ms. Shasserre will be President of Eurofins Pharma BioAnalytical Services, as the company will be known following the closing.  The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions, which the parties expect to complete within 90 days.

DDS is a provider of bioanalytical testing and early stage discovery services and products to the biopharmaceutical market and generates revenues of about USD 35m with ca. 175 employees from its three sites in St. Charles (Missouri), Dundee (Scotland) and Oxford (England). In addition to its discovery pharmacology expertise, DDS provides industry-leading expertise in bioanalytical testing to support clinical trials.