Benchmark International has successfully facilitated the stock sale of Atlanta Biologicals, Inc., and its affiliated company Scientific Ventures, to the Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH). The transaction is financed through available cash on hand.

Charles R. Kummeth, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bio-Techne, commented, "Atlanta Biologicals is a great fit with the Bio-Techne product portfolio as we continue to expand our cell culture and tissue regeneration capabilities. Many of our products are used in tissue culture applications and the Atlanta Biologicals fetal bovine serum (FBS) product line strengthens and complements our current tissue culture reagents offering and furthers our efforts to provide more complete solutions to our research customers. With the increasing interest in 3D cell cultures and other cell based clinical applications, we believe there is value in providing customers alternative and reliable sources of high quality FBS and other tissue culture reagents. Having better tools to study cell behavior in physiologically relevant environments and high quality reagents increases researchers' confidence in the experimental findings.“

Atlanta Biologicals President, Renate Gerle, added, “We are confident with the strategic fit between the two companies given our shared commitment to providing quality products and excellent customer service. Atlanta Biologicals is pleased to have Bio-Techne as a partner, enabling us to expand and enhance our products offering. Bio-Techne's resources and additional market channels will have a positive impact on our business and allow us to serve our customers more efficiently both in the North America and globally.

I would also like to take a moment and thank Benchmark International for their expertise throughout the sale. Naturally, selling a business is a major step, but Benchmark made it a truly seamless process. We had spoken with a number of industry specialist prior to engaging Benchmark; however, Benchmark’s proven ability to negotiate the best deal, their structured team approach, their numerous resources to attract both domestic and international buyers paired with their in-depth knowledge about our industry ultimately determined our decision. I will admit, I was very apprehensive when we first started but Benchmark made the process smoother than expected. They were taking an active lead from start to finish and ultimately delivered the best results we could hope for. I was surprised and impressed by the amount and quality of buyers brought to the company and how all aspects of every potential opportunity were evaluated to achieve the best outcome for the owner and the company. Looking back, I clearly feel industry specialist would not have been able to provide us with this extent of options and analysis. Hearing about the process upfront and then watching it become implemented in real-time reinforces that engaging Benchmark was the best decision and fit we could have made to sell the business. My advice to any owner who genuinely wants to achieve the best results would be to engage with a global specialist like Benchmark rather than over-focusing on industry buyers.”

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a leading developer and manufacturer of high quality purified proteins––notably cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, immunoassays, as well as biologically active small molecule compounds --- which are sold to biomedical researchers and clinical research laboratories; these operations constitute the core Biotechnology Division, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Atlanta Biologicals was founded in 1992 and has focused on supplying cell culture sera, media and reagents for the life science research market. It is located in Flowery Branch, Georgia and has approximately 25 employees. The acquisition is expected to be slightly accretive to Bio-Techne's adjusted earnings per share for its fiscal year 2018.

International M&A specialist, Benchmark International, has successfully negotiated the sale of its client, FAST of Florida, Inc. (“FAST”) to Southern Air & Heat (“Southern HVAC”), a portfolio company of MSouth Equity Partners, an Atlanta-based private equity firm.

Based in Clearwater, Florida, FAST is a leading provider of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing and electrical sales, installation, and maintenance services to the residential and commercial markets. In 1972, the company was established as a small air conditioning repair shop by Eddie Vaughan. Eddie’s wife, Melissa, joined the company in the early 1980’s, assisting with administrative duties and bookkeeping. As the company grew, FAST evolved to expand its service offerings in order to remain competitive and add additional revenue streams. In 2005, Mr. Vaughan passed away after a long illness, and Melissa assumed ownership of the business. Under Mrs. Vaughan’s leadership, FAST has continued to experience tremendous growth while continuing to offer the same level of quality service the company was built upon. Today, the company employs nearly 50 people serving Pinellas County, Florida and the surrounding markets.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Southern Air & Heat is a leading provider of essential maintenance, repair, replacement and new installation services for the residential and commercial HVAC markets. Currently, the Company serves over 100,000 homeowners across its target markets. Southern HVAC is financially backed by MSouth Equity Partners, a private equity investment firm that provides equity capital and expertise to support management teams of lower middle market companies. Founded in 2007, MSouth manages $1.3 billion with three active funds, and is the successor to Cravey, Green & Wahlen, which was founded in 1984.

President of FAST, Melissa Vaughan, stated, “Benchmark International played an instrumental role in helping me to exit my family legacy business gracefully. The team did an outstanding job of marketing my business toward motivated buyers, and ultimately finding the perfect fit in Southern HVAC. I would like to thank the Benchmark transaction team for the extraordinary effort in making this transaction a reality.”

“Our focus was to find the acquirer that shared FAST’s passion and commitment to providing a personalized level of service while retaining the culture that Melissa has worked so hard to preserve,” said Trevor Talkie, Senior Associate at Benchmark International. “FAST is a compelling addition to MSouth’s growing HVAC platform, and we are truly honored to have worked alongside Melissa and her team toward this successful outcome.”

Tyrus O’Neill, Director at Benchmark International added, “After the journey Melissa has been through, we’re happy to see the process reach an ideal end result. On behalf of Benchmark International, I’d like to wish both parties the best of luck moving forward.”