Sensortec Ltd has sold Cawood Ltd, its successful agricultural contract testing business, in a management buyout. Sensortec has developed Cawood over the last 8 years through the merger of several small testing laboratories, and has achieved consistent year-on-year sales growth.

The proceeds from this transaction will be invested in the company’s biosensor business, Universal Sensors, as it moves from research activities to commercialisation.

Richard Wardle, Chairman of Sensortec, commented: “The management buyout of Cawood is the start of an exciting new chapter for both companies. It gives Cawood the opportunity to continue its expansion and Sensortec the ability to bring a series of new products to market via its biosensor business, Universal Sensors Ltd, which itself is growing rapidly.

“The investment from this transaction will support further development of a series of new product platforms, including the VantixTM Point-of-Care for medical diagnostics and the VantixTM Mobile system for the detection of hospital superbugs, funded in part through the Department of Health’s Small Business Research Initiative. Universal Sensors will be launching a series of new Vantix products throughout 2011 – including a rapid portable test for the detection of antibiotics in animal feed for the growing agritech mobile testing market.”

As part of the focus on the commercialisation of its products, the Company also announced that it is has changed the name of its biosensor business from Universal Sensors to Vantix Ltd, bringing together the branding of the company with that of its products.