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ST. LOUIS, Mo.—Sigma-Aldrich Corp.'s analytical chemistryproduct portfolio recently experienced a large growth spurt, with the news thatthe company in late December acquired all outstanding shares of CerilliantCorp., a supplier of reference standards and materials, for an undisclosed sum.

According to Sigma-Aldrich, Cerilliant's product suite andcustomer base will bring important new business to the company's currentanalytical brands—an already expansive umbrella that houses analyticaltechniques, chromatography, purification, sample preparation, analyticalreagents, standards, spectroscopy, metabolomics and analytical microbiology.Now, with the addition of Round Rock, Texas-based Cerilliant, that umbrella hasballooned to include more than 2,800 products and more than 30 years ofexpertise in the design, development, synthesis, characterization and packagingof analytical standards, calibrators, controls and certified referencematerials that are used in a wide range of analytical applications.

"Their experienced team and capabilities, combined with thequality and breadth of our current analytical brands, our broad scientificknowledge and our powerful global footprint, will provide analytical customersaround the globe with access to a broad and ever-increasing range ofspecialized, high-quality analytical standards from a convenient and reliablesingle source," says Russel Gant, vice president of Sigma-Aldrich's analyticalresearch business.

For the last decade, Cerilliant has been a portfolio companyof Argenta Partners in Dallas, Texas. The standards company is well known for acontinually expanding line of innovative new products, including a modern,robust quality system which incorporates cGMP, GLP and ISO requirements.Cerilliant is accredited to ISO Guide 34, ISO/IEC 17025 and is certified to ISO9001:2008.

In particular, Cerilliant's extensive capabilities complementSigma-Aldrich's existing Fluka and Supelco analytical brands, according toGant.

"We've known Cerilliant for quite a few years," Gant says."This acquisition was really a combination of many things: the people we knowat Cerilliant, the company's reputation in the marketplace, the quality ofproducts they have and their culture of innovation. We found all of thesethings to be very valuable."

Sherri Pogue, president of Cerilliant, said the deal bringsto Cerilliant "the depth and breadth of resources that will allow us tocontinue to expand our development and offering of innovative products tosupport our customers' ever-evolving analytical requirements."

Sigma-Aldrich will maintain Cerilliant's state-of-the-artlaboratory and manufacturing facility in Round Rock and the 65 employees whowork there, and the center will become a Sigma-Aldrich "Center of Excellence." Pogue will serve as director of that center.

Terms of the purchase were not disclosed. Sigma-Aldrichexpects the acquisition to be neutral to mildly accretive to earnings per sharein 2011.

Gant says Sigma-Aldrich continues to look for opportunitiesto expand the company's analytical business segment.

"We're looking for all possible ways to expand our business,including partnerships and collaborations," he says. "We're also looking tocontinue strengthening our internal development organization. We're alwayslooking for potential acquisitions if they can add something significant towhat we currently have."