One of capital region’s high-tech pioneers has been sold to SGS, a Swiss company with operations around the world.
Sidney’s AXYS Analytical Services Ltd., founded in 1974, is now SGS AXYS.
The sale closed Friday. The price is not being released.
AXYS Analytical had been owned by a small group of primarily local shareholders, John Cosgrove said Tuesday. Cosgrove joined the company 13 years ago and served as its president and CEO. He is now vice-president and senior technical director with SGS AXYS.
The company operates out of two buildings, totalling 20,000 square feet, on Mills Road West, and has 110 staff.
“We expect to keep all employees,” Cosgrove said.
AXYS Analytical is known for precisely measuring low levels of contaminants in everything from human blood to fish tissue, water and sediments.
It has looked for PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in human milk, pharmaceuticals in waste water effluent, and naphthenic acids in oilsands waters. Naphthenic acids are byproducts of oilsands extraction and considered a primary source of toxicity in tailings.
Testing is performed for research organizations, regulatory bodies, consultants and industry. Clients also include governments in Canada.
The company is expected to generate more than $12 million in revenue this year, an SGS statement said.
AXYS Analytical was part of what was called the AXYS Group of Companies, which included AXYS Technologies and Seastar Chemicals. The other firms were not part of the sale.
SGS AXYS will work with the SGS’s environmental, health and safety operations in Mississauga, company spokesman Fulvio Martinez said from Ontario.
The Mississauga operation concentrates on post-regulatory analysis, Cosgrove said.
Within Canada, SGS has about 2,000 employees. It operates across the country in 70 locations. Globally, SGS has more than 85,000 employees, working in more than 1,800 offices and laboratories.
Frankie Ng, CEO of SGS, said in a statement about AXYS: “This acquisition complements the service offering of our recent Accutest acquisition, as well as enhancing our existing environmental network.”
SGS announced in January that it had bought Accutest Laboratories, the fifth-largest full service environmental testing company in the U.S.
Accutest had a network of laboratories and service centres in 14 states, with more than 600 employees, and operational revenues of $65 million US in 2015.
