Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a leading life science and high technology company, has signed an agreement to acquire BioReliance Holdings, Inc.,  a leading provider of global biopharmaceutical testing services, from Avista Capital Partners for $350 million in cash.  The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearance, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

BioReliance provides critical services that include biologic, specialized toxicology and animal health testing to pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, diagnostics, and other life science customers worldwide.  BioReliance's service offering helps facilitate biological drug development, manufacturing and commercialization activities. The company's ability to develop and execute global testing protocols in compliance with various regulatory standards enables BioReliance's clients to register products worldwide.  The addition of these services is expected to result in a broader and richer value proposition for Sigma-Aldrich and have an immediate impact on its ability to provide enhanced solutions for its biopharmaceutical customers.  The advantage for the customer is the ability to work with a single point provider that is more vertically integrated throughout the drug discovery process.

BioReliance generated revenues of approximately $110 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 with double-digit growth expected in 2011.  The acquisition is expected to be modestly accretive to Sigma-Aldrich's diluted EPS in 2012 and enhance its already strong free cash flow.  BioReliance is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland with additional operations in Glasgow and Stirling, Scotland and sales offices in Tokyo and Bangalore. It employs over 650 people worldwide.

Commenting on the acquisition, president and CEO Rakesh Sachdev stated, "Our vision for Sigma-Aldrich is to enhance our Company's broad product offering and strong technology platforms with a compelling and specialized services platform.  The addition of BioReliance's industry-leading QA/QC testing services enables us to support customers' needs to determine the quality and integrity of biological drugs at every step of the development and manufacturing process.   As the market continues its focus on biological drug development, our leadership in this area should enable us to build even better, more customer-specific solutions. We are excited to add BioReliance's capabilities and its talented employees to our Company and fully expect its addition to contribute to our long-term growth and return goals."

Sigma-Aldrich expects to fund the acquisition with a combination of existing cash and credit facilities.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor and Bryan Cave LLP served as legal advisor to Sigma-Aldrich for this transaction.