By Rachel Melcer

Linco, a St. Charles-based maker of analysis tools and test kits for

life-science research, said Thursday it is being acquired by Serologicals Corp.

of Atlanta for $74.8 million.

The purchase price includes $64.5 million in cash for the business; the

remainder is for the land and three buildings it occupies.

The site will become a "core location" for Serologicals, said President and

Chief Executive David Dodd. He does not plan to lay off any of Linco's 109

employees -- rather, he expects to add staff and operations in the near future.

He declined to offer specifics, because employees at other Serologicals sites

who may be affected have not been notified.

Linco, which includes Linco Research Inc. and Linco Diagnostic Services Inc.,

said it expects more than $22 million in sales this year. The company is

experiencing double-digit revenue growth.

As part of Serologicals, the operation should do even better, Dodd said. It

will benefit from a bigger investment in research and development -- more than

$20 million annually across Serologicals, versus about $2 million a year spent

by Linco. Serologicals also has 70 direct salespeople, while Linco had just

two. Both firms also rely on outside distributors.

Serologicals produces consumable biological products for scientific research,

drug discovery and bioprocessing. It reported fiscal 2005 sales of $274.9

million, an increase of 40 percent over the previous year due in part to other

recent acquisitions. Excluding one-time costs related to those deals plus

restructuring, its 2005 net income of 98 cents a share was up by 24 percent

over 2004.

The company said it expects Linco will add 3 cents to 4 cents of earnings per

share this year.

Dodd said he has high hopes for sales of research analysis and testing tools

that fit with a key platform used in drug discovery, called Luminex-based

multiplexing.

With the addition of Linco, Serologicals will have the highest share in the

market for these products, Dodd said.

He said the St. Louis region is a good fit for his high-tech company.

"St. Louis is increasingly being recognized as a biotech hub in the Midwest,"

he said. "We feel very strongly this is an ideal location, given the rich

talent pool" and good transportation options.

Rick Ryan, who had been president of Linco Research, becomes president and

chief executive of the local operation. Ronald Gingerich, founder, chairman and

chief executive of Linco, who had been running the diagnostics unit, is leaving

the company.

Serologicals Corp.

Headquarters: Atlanta

Exchange/ticker symbol: Nasdaq/SERO

Employees: Approximately 1,000

Subsidiaries: Chemicon International of Temecula, Calif.; Upstate Group LLC of

Charlottesville, Va.; Celliance Corp. of Atlanta

Business: Produces consumable biological products for scientific research, drug

discovery and bioprocessing