SWITZERLAND – Cotecna, a global provider of inspection and testing services and supply chain solutions in the food and agriculture industry, has acquired a 51% equity stake in Chinese company, Kaixin Certification.
Founded in 1998 and privately owned, Kaixin Certification is a leading certification body in China approved by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNCA) with accreditations from CNAS and ANAB.
The company been a service partner by over 10,000 customers in multi-industry sectors and has issued over 16,000 certificates until 2019, covering a comprehensive range of system certification and product certification services.
With the acquisition, the Switzerland-based Cotecna further expands its international network of offices and laboratories providing conformity assessment across a number of industry sectors, including food, agriculture, government & trade, among others.
“We are very pleased to extend our footprint in China and in certification, ” said Sébastien Dannaud, CEO of Cotecna.
“Leveraging our combined strengths, Kaixin Certification will help Cotecna to deliver a greater range of services to our customers, in particular end to end supply chain assurance solutions.”
Mr Ge Kai, President of Kaixin Certification, commented, “We are excited about building our future with Cotecna.
“This partnership provides our wide customer base with a strong assurance for accessing a variety of international inspection and certification services.”
In February this year, Cotecna in partnership with NofaLab opened a new agricultural facility in the port of Zierbena, Bilbao, Spain.
The company said that the project was a key part of its growth strategy to extend Nofalab’s existing testing and analysis capabilities in the Netherlands across the Iberian Peninsula.
Cotenca said that the new agricultural facility will initially be able to perform a visual control and sampling of animal fat before the discharge of trucks into shore tanks. The samples taken will then be analysed by our NofaLab team, “offering clients a seamless and efficient service.”
With the facility, the company will be inspecting products produced in Portugal and Spain that will be mainly exported to Poland and Finland for technical use.
The company also operates offices in Morocco, India, South Africa Peru, Guatemala, Turkey, Kenya, Ethiopia and Philippines among other international countries.