US-based CML has targeted ChemShop, a chemistry outsourcing firm based in Weert in the Netherlands, in its first acquisition since it partnered with Arlington Capital back in February.
The new European addition has been active in the sector for the last nine years, providing process development, contract research and good manufacturing practice (GMP) services to the pharma industry.
Through the deal, CML acquires the company and its 12,500m2 facility in Weert with equipment capable of bench to 450l scale.
The facility is currently kitted out with R&D labs, GMP kilo lab suites and a GMP pilot plant.
CML, however, plans to give ChemShop a makeover, investing "several million dollars" to expand the firm's site and add reactor capacity, laboratories and enhance the high potency API manufacturing capabilities at the site. The work is due to commence immediately, and expected to be complete in the second half of 2008.
ChemShop will now operate under the name Cambridge Major Laboratories Europe, extending CML's European reach to tap into the healthy pharma market on the other side of the Atlantic.
CML provides services to the pharma and biotech industries, producing intermediates, APIs and other fine organic chemicals from its three facilities in the US and Europe.
Acquisitions such as the ChemShop purchase announced last week, however, have only really been a possibility since equity fund group Arlington Partners came on board back in February.
With its new partners providing access to financial resources previously beyond CML's reach, the company redefined its organisation with a focus on three primary areas of APIs, formulation and regulatory consulting services.
The Arlington deal was seen as a way of not only adding expertise and strategic focus to CML, but also "to help fund acquisition activities in complimentary business areas including formulation, regulatory consulting, clinical packaging/distribution and physical form determination."
With the ChemShop acquisition CML is making good on its word, and kicking off a growth programme based on the idea of a "one-stop-shop" for pharma development services.
