EAG Acquires PTRL West and PTRL Europe, Global Market Leaders for AgroSciences

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Evans Analytical Group, Inc. (EAG), the world's leading, fully integrated, independent laboratory network, providing high value expert analytical and testing services to a wide range of industries and end users, today announced that it has acquired PTRL West, Inc. (Hercules, CA) and PTRL Europe GmbH (Ulm, Germany). PTRL West and PTRL Europe will continue to operate under their current names and locations as divisions of EAG. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

PTRL has created a world-wide business serving the regulatory testing needs of the leading international agrochemical companies. PTRL provides specialized services in Analytical Chemistry and Residue Analysis, Environmental Fate and Metabolism to assist in the required regulatory testing to bring new pesticides to market and to perform testing required for re-registrations of compounds. PTRL serves the regulatory requirements of the U.S. EPA, U.S. FDA, EU, REACH, OECD and JMAFF governmental agencies. The work conducted at the PTRL facilities is in compliance with Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) for the Agrochemical industry and complements our GLP work for the pharmaceutical industry conducted within our EAG Life Sciences Division.

With a continuing commitment to scientific expertise, accuracy of chemical analysis, investment in advanced instrumentation and technologies, and building long-term business partnerships with customers, PTRL has established itself as the premier laboratory for executing challenging analytical work. For over 20-years, customers from the U.S., Europe and Japan have relied on PTRL as a trusted partner in the complex, regulated process of bringing new pesticides to market.

Harry Davoody, CEO of EAG states “Both PTRL and EAG value our customer relationships first and foremost. The acquisition of PTRL was very compelling to EAG and fits into EAG's overall growth strategy in offering a broader range of high-end analytical services for new and existing customers of EAG. EAG's different divisional strengths complement each other with their best-in-class subject matter expertise which is highly valued by our specialized customers.”

Dr. Luis Ruzo, co-founder and Head of PTRL West, affirmed that “PTRL is pleased to become part of an organization as well-regarded as EAG. This merger is very important to PTRL, providing us with additional resources from a solid long-standing company which supports our efforts to continue to grow our labs and our capabilities for our valued customers.”

Dr. Thomas Class, co-founder and Head of PTRL Europe, noted “PTRL carefully selected EAG knowing that PTRL and its team will be part of EAG's future growth engine beyond EAG's existing markets. EAG recognized the potential in the agrochemical segment and is very committed to further investing in our business going forward.”

Virginia M. Turezyn, SVP of Business Development and Strategy, comments “The agrochemical market sector has been on our radar for some time and we were pleased to have the best-in-class management and team at PTRL to serve as the cornerstone for EAG's entry into this industry.”

Neal McCarthy, Managing Director of Fairmount Partners, who assisted PTRL and EAG in this transaction commented “With the acquisition of PTRL, EAG has added the finest agrochemical lab in North America and Europe, and with Dr. Luis Ruzo and Dr. Thomas Class and the other PTRL scientists, EAG adds world class experts in the field of agrochemicals, to its impressive roster of scientific talent.”

About Evans Analytical Group

EAG is the world's leading, fully integrated, independent laboratory network. EAG's Materials Characterization Division provides high value analytical services focused on surface analysis and materials characterization in support of high technology industries. The Company's Release to Production Division provides expert engineering service and support from chip tape-out to volume production in support of the electronics industry. EAG Life Sciences provides regulated analytical and research/development services to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. EAG Coatings Solutions provides innovative product development support to the paints and coatings industry. EAG has an international network of laboratories and serves more than 5,500 customers worldwide. (www.eaglabs.com)

EAG is majority owned by Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC, a leading private equity firm with more than $2 billion in capital under management. Odyssey makes majority, control investments primarily in established middle-market industrial manufacturing and business services companies in a variety of industries. Further information regarding Odyssey Investment Partners can be found at www.odysseyinvestment.com.

About PTRL

PTRL is a leading contract research laboratory serving the agrochemical industry. PTRL provides Analytical Chemistry and Residue Analysis, Environmental Fate and Metabolism services to assist in the required regulatory testing to bring new pesticides to market and re-registration of existing compounds to a global network of customers. PTRL has offices in Hercules, CA and Ulm, Germany. Further information regarding PTRL can be found at www.ptrlwest.com and www.ptrl-europe.de.