GATC and Eurofins Join Forces

GATC will be a part of the Eurofins Group as of July 2017 to create the leading company in the worldwide sequencing market.

Eurofins Scientific has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire GATC Biotech AG, one of Europe´s specialists in DNA sequencing. The transaction is expected to close in July, subject to the fulfilment of customary closing conditions.

Founded in 1990, GATC has achieved a strong recognition for DNA and RNA sequencing, as well as bioinformatics in Europe. The company employs 140 staff across 2 sites, and serves over 10,000 institutional and academic customers, generating annual revenues of about EUR 20m. As one of the larger players in Custom and Next Generation Sequencing, GATC has built a reputation for innovative, internally-developed applications, as well as industry-leading turn-around time (TAT). The acquisition should therefore further reinforce Eurofins' footprint in DNA sequencing, and strengthen the Group's technological platform supporting its genetic testing innovations.

Comment from Peter Pohl, CEO and Co-Founder GATC: “We are excited to be joining the Eurofins family of laboratories and look forward to the next phase of our development within the Group. We are confident that with access to Eurofins’ global network and technical competencies, we should be able to expand our analytical portfolio and services to benefit all our existing and future clients.”

Comment from Dr. Gilles Martin, Eurofins CEO: “We look forward to providing GATC access to the complete capabilities of the Eurofins Group. This transaction is a demonstration of Eurofins' commitment to genomics services. We believe that advances in gene sequencing will continue to drive innovations not only in clinical diagnostics, but in the broader bioanalytical testing market as well."

For the purchase price secrecy was agreed.