Major expansion for North Wales firm

Gráinne Walters, partner and head of the corporate and commercial team at Lanyon Bowdler.

Geo-science giant Hafren Scientific has announced a major expansion with the acquisition of chemical analytics firm X-ray Mineral Services (XMS).

The two Welsh-based companies are internationally recognised and the move will add the industry leading team of specialists, geologists and technicians of XMS to Hafren Scientific’s programme of future growth and development.

Bosses at Hafren, based near Welshpool, say the acquisition adds several important components to the firm’s multi-disciplinary geo-science services as well as improving its non-oil and gas service capability.

The deal was struck with the help of Gráinne Walters, partner and head of the corporate and commercial team at Lanyon Bowdler.

Gráinne said: “This is big news for Hafren and XMS and allows them to expand and strengthen their global geoscience service provision, an important export sector, in Wales.

“The acquisition will reinforce Hafren’s position as a world leader in chemostratigraphy whilst enabling it to continue diversifying further its non-oil and gas service delivery capability.

“This is also great news for the local economy in Welshpool, Powys and North Wales as the expansion of the Hafren group will create further jobs.

“We are seeing an increasing number of instructions from Wales and we were delighted to be of service here. It’s exciting to see businesses like Hafren Scientific and XMS thriving on an international scale and being able to compete with, and supply to, large global corporates.

“This acquisition highlights how Lanyon Bowdler continues to assist businesses across Wales with their growth and expansion.”

Tim Pearce, Hafren Group MD, said: “We are excited to announce the continued expansion of our solutions portfolio following this successful acquisition.

“Hafren believes high quality data is at the heart of robust geological solutions and is focussed on providing practical, commercially sensible solutions for clients that do not compromise on quality.

“The acquisition of XMS delivers world class mineralogical expertise to our existing solutions, meaning clients, both old and new, can be assured our innovative suite of high impact workflows and methods will continue to grow as a result.”

Hafren Scientific Group consists of several companies at the cutting edge of research and development of innovative technologies in geological services, primarily to the energy sector.

It is also a leader in the acquisition of elemental data across a wide range of industries.

XMS has provided expertise in mineralogical and chemical analysis since the firm was launched in 1997 by using X-ray diffraction and X-ray Fluorescence in its interpretation and reporting data.