The Houston-based arm of a U.K. product compliance services company has bought Ottawa's Ageus Solutions.

Intertek Group has offered an initial cash consideration of 900,000 pounds or the equivalent of C$1.75 million for Ageus, which provides environmental compliance and hazardous materials consulting services for the North American electronics and manufacturing industry.

Intertek will pay total considerations of roughly $5 million to $7 million, depending on Ageus's earnings growth.

The acquisition will help Intertek expand its compliance services for international environmental standards such as Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and Restriction of Hazardous Substance (RoHS).

"Intertek is a world leader in fire safety and electromagnetic interference (EMI) product compliance and CE marking, and we will be adding (compliance services for) materials restrictions and recycling," says Ageus CEO Bruce Calder. "So it will be a single company to get everything you need (in terms of compliance standards), whether it be for electronics, cosmetics or textiles, and you will be able to get into any global market."

Mr. Calder says Ageus is projecting "multiples of revenue growth" in its first year as part of Intertek, as a result of increased access to a global sales force.

Intertek has offices in more than 100 countries and had revenues of 824 million pounds in its last year, while Ageus has seen revenues grow to $2.3 million in 2006 from just $258,748 two years earlier.

"This acquisition shows what happens when you get a lot of very capable individuals together with a common goal, and we're going to see a lot of Ottawa people get incredible exposure to the international marketplace," Mr. Calder says.

Mr. Calder notes there are no layoffs intended for its Ottawa office, which has about 28 staff. Rather, the company is expecting to see "strong recruitment growth over the next three years."

"We're adding capability as opposed to merging capability," he says. "Hiring the right people is very likely one of the first orders of business."