Sarine Buys New York Lab GCAL for $5.65M

Sarine Technologies has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Gem Certification & Assurance Lab (GCAL).

The Israel-headquartered company bought 70% of GCAL for $5.65 million, it announced Tuesday. The New York-based lab’s existing management team will continue to run the business for at least three years, Sarine added. The merged entity will carry the name GCAL USA but will operate under the brand GCAL by Sarine, which replaces Sarine North America.

The deal, which closed on Tuesday, will increase Sarine’s profitability by around 7% and provide additional cost savings, executives projected. “Substantially all” GCAL employees will remain. The agreement contains a “put-call” arrangement enabling Sarine to acquire the remainder of the company — or GCAL to divest the entire business — at a later date, according to a stock-exchange filing.

The transaction will enable GCAL to expand its services globally using Sarine’s automated grading system, known as e-Grading, the companies explained. It will also give Sarine a route into the US market.

“By leveraging Sarine’s advanced AI [artificial intelligence] grading technology, we can extend our grading services worldwide while preserving the accuracy and precision our customers have come to depend on,” said GCAL USA president Angelo Palmieri.

In January, the parties revealed they had reached a nonbinding agreement. They then conducted due diligence before completing the deal.

Image: Sarine’s Galaxy rough-scanning machine. (Sarine Technologies)