Biolin Scientific has acquired analytical instruments provider Farfield. The acquisition of Farfield complements Biolin Scientific’s product portfolio and provides new application opportunities in bioscience.

Comments

”Farfield has a competent organization with good products based on a unique technology. Farfield products are a logical complement to our product portfolio. We think that Farfield products should be of value and interest to a significant proportion of our customer base. Farfield’s technology also provides us with strategically important application opportunities in the field of biochemical research. We expect to be able to increase sales of Farfield products substantially, integrating it with our own international sales and distribution organization.” says Fredrik Lindgren, CEO of Biolin Scientific.

“Over the past ten years, Farfield’s technology has become recognized as an invaluable research tool for biophysics with an installed base in 19 countries. We believe there is significant further potential still to be explored particularly in the fields of protein research and are delighted to become a product company within the Biolin Scientific group. This will allow us to focus on the long term development of our technology and applications” says Dr Gerry Ronan, Managing Director of Farfield.

Products and Technology

Farfield‘s products are analytical instrument systems based on its patented technology, Dual Polarization Interferometry (DPI). DPI is a highly sensitive technique to detect and monitor molecular changes occurring on a surface. Application scope for DPI ranges from advanced material science to biophysics and biochemistry. Examples of applications are cell membrane models, conformational change of proteins, biocompatibility studies and structural properties of macromolecules. The list of scientific publications based on DPI recently exceeded 100. Farfield’s product range consists of several analytical instrument models and consumable sensors.

Company and Organization

Farfield has 11 employees located in Crewe, England and Pittsburgh, USA. The internal organization is focused on technical development, application science, sourcing, marketing and sales. Manufacture of products is outsourced to an external supplier. International sales and distribution is primarily handled by the internal organization, in collaboration with distribution partners in a few markets. The customer base consists of scientists and researchers at universities, research institutions and global corporations throughout the world. Farfield was founded as a company in 1998 and launched its first product in 2003. During Farfield’s last fiscal year, ending March 31, 2009, Farfield generated net sales of GBP 1.6 million (SKr 17.5 million) and EBITDA earnings of GBP 0.2 million (SKr 2.2 million).

Merger plan

Farfield’s management and employees are staying on after the acquisition to form a separate product organization within the BiolinScientific group. In the short-term, BiolinScientific sales organisation will take over sales and distribution of Farfield products in the US, UK and Nordic markets. During 2010, Biolin Scientific will also secure the distribution of Farfield products in a number of international markets where Farfield is currently lacking representation. In other markets, BiolinScientific will continue the co-operation with Farfield’s current distribution partners. During 2010, manufacturing of Farfield analytical instruments will be in-sourced to Biolin Scientific production in Helsinki, Finland.