Meridian Buys Bioline
The purchase expands Meridian Life Science’s biology product offerings and geographic reach, according to Mr. Eberly, who spoke at the company’s AACC (see page 1) press conference. Other key aspects of Bioline, he said, are its R&D staff and the fact that it manufactures its own products. According to Meridian Bioscience, 70% of Bioline’s sales are to the research market and 30% are to the industrial market. Bioline has 64 employees. Meridian Bioscience consists of three businesses: US Diagnostics, European Diagnostics and Life Science.
Cincinnati, OH 7/20/10—Life science company Meridian Bioscience has acquired all the outstanding capital stock of the Bioline group of companies for $23.3 million in cash. Headquartered in the UK, Bioline is a manufacturer and distributor of molecular biology reagents, including nucleotides and DNA polymerase enzymes. Bioline’s 2010 revenues are estimated to exceed $12 million. “Bioline will provide a rapidly expanding portfolio of highly specialized molecular biology reagents that enable the development of genomic tests utilized by researchers, clinical diagnostic laboratories, diagnostic test manufacturers and biotechnology companies,” stated Richard L. Eberly, executive vice president and president, Meridian Life Science. “Bioline will also add key global operations and direct sales capabilities in the UK, Germany and Australia to complement Meridian’s strong US capabilities.” Bioline is profitable and the acquisition is expected to be accretive to Meridian’s earnings in late fiscal 2011 following the sale of preacquisition inventory. (For Meridian fiscal third-quarter results, see page 12.)
