Warburg Pincus portfolio company acquires DuPont’s food safety unit

DuPont has agreed to sell its global food safety diagnostics business to Hygiena, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company.

The acquisition was announced last week and includes DuPont Diagnostics’ BAX and RiboPrinter testing systems and associated test kits, which are used for microbial detection by food companies, government inspectors and service labs.

Specifically, BAX detects pathogens and other organisms in food products, raw ingredients and production environments, while the RiboPrinter system identifies and characterizes bacteria in food and pharmaceutical production facilities.

Hygiena will also take control of all of DuPont Diagnostics’ business assets; its sales, research and manufacturing teams; as well as production facilities in Delaware.

Financial terms were not disclosed and the transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017.

“The combined company’s microbiology products will cover the full manufacturing process, from in-process environmental tests to finished product tests. In addition, the combination increases our customer service presence in the United States and internationally, which will allow us to further enhance our research and development efforts and support our combined customer base,” said Hygiena chief executive officer Steve Nason in a statement.

Hygiena plans to invest in new product development and will operate the business under its original name of Qualicon, according to the statement.

Hygiena’s move to acquire the assets of DuPont Diagnostics is one of a number of recent transactions that reflect an increasing focus on food safety and testing. In October, Paine & Partners bought Global ID Group, which the firm told Agri Investor at the time it intends to use as a platform for further acquisitions in the food safety sub-sector. French private equity firm Ardian finalized its acquisition of Hypred, a food and agriculture hygiene-focused subsidiary of the Roullier Group, in November.

Hygiena is a microbiology and life science company that sells hygiene monitoring and environmental collection systems to industrial food processors, healthcare institutions, life science researchers and others in more than 50 countries. Founded in 2001, Hygiena is headquartered in Camarillo, California, and also maintains offices in the UK, India and China.

Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm with more than $40 billion in assets under management, made a growth stage investment of an undisclosed size in Hygiena in July. That same month, the firm acquired a 31.75 percent stake in Camil Alimentos, a Brazilian company that sells rice and canned fish.