Tuesday, November 8, 2011

IDEXX buys RADIL lab from University of Missouri

By Rodney H. Brown

Maine’s IDEXX Laboratories Inc. has put up $43 million in cash to acquire RADIL, a research and diagnostic laboratory business, from the University of Missouri.

According to a release from Westbrook-based IDEXX (Nasdaq: IDXX), RADIL is a business unit of the University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and provides “health monitoring and diagnostic testing services to bioresearch customers.” The deal calls for all employees of RADIL to become IDEXX employees and continue to run the business in Columbia, Mo.

IDEXX officials said that RADIL is a good fit, as it provides veterinary laboratory diagnostics such as serology, pathology, molecular diagnostics, microbiology and parasitology. IDEXX is an animal health instrumentation, testing and software products company.

Last month, IDEXX won approval from the city of Westbrook’s planning board for the first phase of its proposed $60 million corporate headquarters’ expansion, which eventually could accommodate 700 more employees.  The new building is expected to contain administrative offices, a fitness center and a food area. The company listed 1,700 employees in Westbrook in September, in a 575,000 square foot facility.

In July, IDEXX reported a 13 percent bump in second quarter revenue in 2011 over the same period last year. For the second quarter of  2011, IDEXX reported $317.9 million in revenue, up from $281.5 million for the second quarter of 2010.