AMRI has acquired Excelsyn Ltd., a provider of chemical development and manufacturing services, located in North Wales, UK, for $19 million in cash. Excelsyn has 60 employees and had revenues of $15 million in 2009. The acquisition expands AMRI’s portfolio of development and large scale manufacturing facilities, as well as its customer base.

Excelsyn provides development and large scale manufacturing services to large pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Manufacturing services include preclinical and Phase I – III product development, as well as commercial manufacturing services for approved products.

AMRI chairman and chief executive officer, Thomas E. D’Ambra, Ph.D. said, “The acquisition of Excelsyn further builds out AMRI’s global continuum spanning the U.S., Asia and Europe, and is a significant milestone in its strategy to expand services and its global footprint. We believe this acquisition will increase our ability to penetrate a market space relatively untapped to date, including customers in large pharma based in Europe. This acquisition also enhances our ability to offer lower cost solutions at a time when cost has been become a major factor in outsourcing decisions being made, particularly in the large pharmaceutical sector.”

Dr. David Rowles will serve as general manager of the Excelsyn site. Dr. Rowles has been chief operating officer at the site since it became Excelsyn in 2004. He will report to Dr. Steve Hagen, AMRI vice president of pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.