LANSING, Mich., March 31, 2020 — NEOGEN Corporation (NASDAQ: NEOG) announced today that it has acquired the assets of Chile-based Magiar Chilena (Magiar) — a distributor of food, animal, and plant diagnostics, including NEOGEN products. NEOGEN will incorporate the Magiar assets into its wholly-owned subsidiary, NEOGEN Chile SpA, for continued operations in Chile.
Combined with NEOGEN’s January acquisition of similar businesses in Argentina and Uruguay, this acquisition in Chile completes NEOGEN’s physical presence in the important agricultural Southern Cone region of South America, which has large beef and dairy populations, along with significant food crops that comprise large exports. The Chile operations will be managed directly through NEOGEN’s Latin American operations and will offer direct sales of NEOGEN food safety, animal safety, and genomic solutions into the country.
“The addition of operations in Chile gives us a direct presence in nearly all of the major agricultural and food industry markets in South America,” said John Adent, NEOGEN’s president and chief executive officer. “The use of distributors in distant regions, such as the Southern Cone, was critical as we established ourselves as a company capable of efficiently delivering our solutions to global markets. Combined with our recent acquisitions in Argentina, Uruguay, Italy, and Australia, this acquisition shows that we believe now is the time to drive our own growth in important global markets.”
Magiar was founded in 1998, and has marketed diagnostic products for animal feed and food quality control, including NEOGEN’s instrument-based food safety diagnostics.
According to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, Chile is among the top 10 agricultural exporters in the world. Chile’s main export commodities are fish, seafood, wine, fresh fruit, dairy, and meat products. The country’s gross domestic product per capita reached $16,965 in 2017, which is the highest one in the Latin American region, and is one of the main drivers for consumer spending.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
NEOGEN Corporation develops and markets products dedicated to food and animal safety. The company’s Food Safety Division markets dehydrated culture media, and diagnostic test kits to detect foodborne bacteria, natural toxins, food allergens, drug residues, plant diseases and sanitation concerns. NEOGEN’s Animal Safety Division is a leader in the development of animal genomics along with the manufacturing and distribution of a variety of animal healthcare products, including diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, veterinary instruments, wound care and disinfectants.