Interesting facts about Eurofins scientific & Gilles G. Martin

Published by Reena DSouza at May 29, 2018

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Eurofins is an international group of laboratories headquartered in Brussels, providing testing and support services to the pharmaceutical, food, environmental, agriscience and consumer products industries and to governments.

Eurofins Group is a leading provider of analytical services with an international network of more than 400 laboratories across 44 countries and a portfolio of over 150,000 validates analytical methods for characterizing the safety, identity, purity, composition, authenticity and origin of products and biological substances. Through research and development, in-licensing and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical sciences.

Eurofins pursued an aggressive strategy of expansion, buying more than eighty competitors worldwide since it was founded. Notable examples include the acquisition in 2005 of the German company MWG-Biotech and in 2011 of the US company Lancaster Laboratories the latter being acquired for 150 million euros.

History

Eurofins Scientific was founded in 1987 with 4 employees, when Gilles Martin purchased the rights to the SNIF-NMR technology from the University of Nantes, a patented analytical method used to verify the origin and purity of several types of food and beverages and identify sophisticated fraud not detectable by other methods. This technology had been researched and developed by his own parents, who were professors at the university. During this start up period (1987 to 1997), the SNIF-NMR® patent was registered and approved in the US and broadened to apply to a wider range of products than the original wine test, such as fruit juices and other non-alcoholic beverages. The strategy was then formulated to develop the offering in-house and to expand the range of tests provided to customers.

From 1997, the focus for Eurofins was to buy the very best labs with unique technologies and know how with the potential for global recognition. Additionally the Group expanded to eight new countries and grew to include over 50 laboratory sites. Leading positions were built up in core markets (Food, Pharma and Environment) and also key segments such as genomic information and contaminants testing. This in turn enabled the group access to new, top-tier clients in the pharma and retailing sectors. This was funded firstly with the IPO in Paris in 1997 and then the secondary listing in Frankfurt in 2000.

From 2002, Eurofins started developing the infrastructure to support the business, including a unified IT platform that allowed businesses around the world to access a widening portfolio of sales and to take advantage of cutting edge logistics.

Eurofins has now embarked on another phase of growth based on the unique infrastructure and technological portfolio implemented in the previous years. The Group is continuing to expand its global coverage and local market share both through organic growth and a judicious acquisition programme. Today, the Eurofins Group is a leading provider of analytical services with an international network of more than 400 laboratories across 44 countries in Europe, North and South America and Asia-Pacific, over 35,000 staff. The Eurofins Group offers a portfolio of over 150,000 validates analytical methods for characterizing the safety, identity, purity, composition, authenticity and origin of products and biological substances. More than 360 million tests performed each year.

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurofins_Scientific