{"id":8748,"date":"2017-08-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingstagenew.wpenginepowered.com\/transaction\/lextox-has-been-acquired-by-synlab\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:19:16","slug":"lextox-has-been-acquired-by-synlab","status":"publish","type":"transaction","link":"https:\/\/livingstonepartners.com\/en\/transaction\/lextox-has-been-acquired-by-synlab\/","title":{"rendered":"Lextox has been acquired by SYNLAB"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.synlab.com\/\"><strong>SYNLAB<\/strong><\/a><strong>, the leading provider of medical diagnostic services in Europe, has acquired&nbsp;<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/lextox.co.uk\/\"><strong>Lextox Drugs<\/strong><\/a><strong> and Alcohol Testing, based in Cardiff. Livingstone\u2019s Healthcare sector team advised management and investors of Lextox on the sale of the company. Lextox, founded by Managing Director Nick Ralph, is a market leader in providing hair-based testing and expert analysis and reporting for courts, solicitors and local authorities involved in family law cases and child care proceedings. <\/strong><\/p><p>The company was established in 2011 with early-stage backing from an investor group led by Cardiff-based entrepreneur Nick Williams. <\/p><p><strong>Nick Ralph<\/strong> commented,&nbsp;<em>\u201cLivingstone conducted an efficient and competitive process that generated significant interest in the company. SYNLAB emerged as having the best strategic fit with Lextox and most likely to further the company\u2019s rapid expansion across the UK family courts systems from our existing Cardiff-based facility. The Livingstone team provided hands-on guidance and support throughout the transaction. They added real value&nbsp;across&nbsp;every aspect of the deal and achieved a fantastic result for all stakeholders. I would thoroughly recommend Livingstone.\u201d <\/em><\/p><p>Lextox&nbsp;is the trusted choice for over 7,000 solicitors and local authorities across the UK. The Company is an ISO17025 UKAS accredited laboratory&nbsp;specialising&nbsp;in hair drugs and alcohol testing, complemented by a range of DNA and blood testing services. It is also one of two UK providers of SCRAM continuous alcohol testing, an innovative way of testing a participant\u2019s alcohol consumption over a period of time. <\/p><p><strong>Nick Williams<\/strong> added,&nbsp;<em>\u201cNick and&nbsp;whole&nbsp;team at Lextox have overseen a period of very significant growth by delivering to customers an outstanding service with industry-leading turnaround times. The investors&nbsp;whole-heartedly&nbsp;congratulate the team on their successful sale to SYNLAB. Having exited numerous businesses over the years, Livingstone\u2019s process was thoughtful, tightly-run and highly effective and the investors are delighted with the outcome.\u201d <\/em><\/p><p>SYNLAB operates in more than 30 countries across four continents and holds leading positions in most markets; the Group carries out about 450 million laboratory tests per year, achieving sales revenue of circa \u20ac1.6 billion. SYNLAB was attracted to the Lextox business due to the dynamism of the Company and the management team, its&nbsp;high quality&nbsp;service provision and strong value added strategy, as well as its complementary offering to that of Abergavenny-based SYNLAB Laboratory Services. <\/p><p>The acquisition further extends&nbsp;SYNLAB\u2019s&nbsp;repertoire of drugs and alcohol testing services in the UK, offering growth opportunities for both companies, as well as deepening both the company\u2019s expertise and customer offerings in existing and new markets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":3295,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"client-type":[],"region":[],"sector":[],"service":[],"transaction-type":[],"class_list":["post-8748","transaction","type-transaction","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"team_members":"","date":"20170803","client_type":40,"type":[1111],"region":[375,370,369],"services":[434],"sectors":[636,645],"related_transactions":"","related_testimonials":[49271],"contacts":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lextox has been acquired by SYNLAB - Livingstone Partners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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