Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (Amex: BIO; BIO.B), a multinational manufacturer and distributor of life science research products and clinical diagnostics announced today the acquisition of Verdot Industrie of Riom, France. Bio-Rad manufactures a broad array of separation media used in bioprocess separations and this acquisition enables the company to enter the complementary process hardware market. Bio-Rad paid approximately US$6 million to acquire Verdot, which will continue to operate out of Riom, France.

"We are very pleased about this acquisition which will enable us to better meet the growing demands of the pharmaceutical industry," said Bio-Rad President and CEO Norman Schwartz. "We have been the exclusive distributor of Verdot's chromatography columns and systems for more than two years so it makes sense to incorporate these products into our existing process chromatography business."

Process chromatography chemistries, or media, and hardware are used to separate and purify molecular compounds in the production of pharmaceutical drugs.

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (www.bio-rad.com) is a multinational manufacturer and distributor of life science research products and clinical diagnostics. It is based in Hercules, California, and serves more than 70,000 research and industry customers worldwide through a network of more than 30 wholly owned subsidiary offices.