NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Food and livestock safety diagnostics company Neogen has bought agricultural genetics firm GeneSeek through a stock purchase valued at roughly $13.8 million, Neogen said today.
The full price for GeneSeek, which earned revenues of approximately $12.5 million in 2009, will depend on contingent payments based on its performance, Neogen said.
GeneSeek uses Illumina's Infinium BeadChip and Sequenom's MassArray technologies to conduct DNA genotyping to identify and analyze traits that are important for disease resistance and meat quality.
Neogen said that it expects to retain all of Lincoln, Neb.-based GeneSeek's employees in its current facilities.
Lansing, Mich.-based Neogen has an animal safety division that markets diagnostics, veterinary instruments, pharmaceuticals and related tools, and a food safety division that offers testing for bacteria, allergens, drugs, and plant diseases.
"Neogen has added to its genomic capability during the past year to speed the development of food and animal safety diagnostic tests, as well as develop novel intervention tools to solve food and animal safety problems," Neogen Chairman and CEO James Herbert said in a statement.