Most Active Acquirers of Testing, Inspection and Certification Companies (2026)
The acquirers that announced the most purchases of U.S. and Canadian testing, inspection and certification companies between Nov 1, 2025 and Oct 25, 2026, with every deal linked to its source.
Key findings
- UES (Universal Engineering Sciences) (pe-backed, backed by BDT Capital Partners) was the most active acquirer, with 6 announced deals.
- We recorded 38 announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian companies by 17 distinct acquirers.
- 8 acquirers announced two or more deals; together they account for 76% of the deals recorded.
- Private equity-backed acquirers made 66% of the deals.
- 38
- Announced acquisitions recorded
- 17
- Distinct acquirers
- 8
- Acquirers with two or more deals
- 66%
- Of deals made by PE-backed acquirers
Scope. Testing, inspection and certification (TIC) firms: materials and construction testing, non-destructive testing, environmental and analytical laboratories, calibration, product testing and certification bodies, and asset-integrity inspection.
Coverage. The newsrooms of several large TIC groups (including Intertek, Eurofins and Bureau Veritas) could not be retrieved or list few U.S. deals, so their counts may be understated.
The ranking
| Rank | Acquirer | Ownership | Deals | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UES (Universal Engineering Sciences) | PE-backedBDT Capital Partners | 6 | Sep 2, 2026 |
| 2 | Certerra | PE-backedOceanSound Partners | 5 | Oct 8, 2026 |
| 2 | Accredited Labs | PE-backedIncline Equity Partners | 5 | Jun 12, 2026 |
| 4 | Alliance Technical Group | PE-backedBlackstone Energy Transition Partners | 4 | Jul 14, 2026 |
| 5 | SOCOTEC USA | Private strategic | 3 | Mar 11, 2026 |
| 6 | TIC Solutions | Public company | 2 | Sep 8, 2026 |
| 6 | Phenna Group | PE-backed | 2 | Aug 12, 2026 |
| 6 | SGS | Public company | 2 | Jul 23, 2026 |
Announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian companies, Nov. 1, 2025 to Oct. 25, 2026. Acquirers with equal counts share a rank. Sponsor shown is the private equity owner of the acquirer at the time of its deals, where disclosed.
Top 8 acquirers by number of announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian testing, inspection and certification companies, Nov 1, 2025 to Oct 25, 2026. Source: Laurent Capital Research.
Deals by acquirer
Each deal links to the press release or report it was taken from. Dates are announcement dates.
- 1
UES (Universal Engineering Sciences)
6 deals | PE-backed, BDT Capital Partners
- Andreyev Engineering | FL | hydrogeological, geotechnical and environmental servicesborderline fitSource: UES
- Bowyer Environmental Consulting (BEC) | Long Beach, CA | environmental consultingborderline fitSource: UES
- B2 Environmental | Omaha, NE | environmental and industrial hygiene consultingborderline fitSource: UES
- GEOMAT | Farmington, NM | geotechnical engineering, materials testing and special inspectionSource: UES
- 2
Certerra
5 deals | PE-backed, OceanSound Partners
- Universal Testing & Inspection Services | NY | construction materials testing, special inspection, geotechnical drilling, AASHTO labSource: Certerra
- Skyrise Engineering and Testing | Fort Lauderdale, FL | geotechnical engineering and construction materials testingSource: Certerra
- Testing Engineers | San Leandro, CA | materials testing laboratory and special inspection (Northern California)Source: Certerra
- Code NDT | United States | non-destructive testing (UT, RT, MT, PAUT/TOFD), SouthwestSource: Certerra
- Paramount Consulting & Engineering | FL | building envelope consulting, inspection and testingborderline fitSource: PrivSource
- 2
Accredited Labs
5 deals | PE-backed, Incline Equity Partners
- Scale Service and Supply | United States | scale and weighing systems sales, service and calibrationborderline fitSource: Accredited Labs
- Polymer Testing Instruments | United States | calibration of rubber, energy and plastics testing equipmentreport dateSource: Accredited Labs
- 4
Alliance Technical Group
4 deals | PE-backed, Blackstone Energy Transition Partners
- Emissions Test Group (ETG) | Edmonton, AB | industrial source emissions testingSource: Alliance Technical Group
- Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) assets of Atlas Technical Consultants | United States | LDAR and industrial air quality compliance services (Gulf Coast)Source: Alliance Technical Group
- Grace Consulting, Inc. (GCI) | Wellington, OH | air sampling and stack testing, emissions complianceSource: Alliance Technical Group
- Protocol2 Air Sciences Inc. | Edmonton, AB | industrial source emission testing and air quality consultingSource: Alliance Technical Group
- 5
SOCOTEC USA
3 deals | Private strategic
- American Engineers Group (AEG) | Mechanicsburg, PA | engineering consultancy with AASHTO materials testing lab and construction inspectionborderline fitSource: SOCOTEC USA
- Advance Testing Company | NY | construction materials testing and special inspection (NY, CT, MA)Source: SOCOTEC USA
- AAR Testing and Inspection, Inc. | Redmond, WA | special inspection and construction materials testing, NDTSource: SOCOTEC USA
- 6
TIC Solutions
2 deals | Public company
- we-do-IT, Inc. (WDI) | CO | data management and software services for utilitiesborderline fitSource: TIC Solutions
- 6
Phenna Group
2 deals | PE-backed
- Sturbridge Metallurgical Services | MA | accredited metallurgical, materials and microscopy testingSource: Business Sale Report
- MLA Geotechnical | Austin, TX | geotechnical testing, inspection and engineeringSource: Phenna Group
- 6
SGS
2 deals | Public company
- K Prime | United States | trace analysis lab: consumer product, PFAS and Prop 65 air testingSource: SGS
- Keystone Bioanalytical | Philadelphia, PA | GLP bioanalytical (LC-MS/MS) testing for pharma and biotechborderline fitSource: PR Newswire
Other acquirers in the period
9 further acquirers announced 9 deals in this niche.
- Industrial Control Solutions acquired Modern Instrument Company | Long Beach, CAborderline fitSource
- Eurofins acquired Element Materials Technology North America Life Sciences Testing Services business | United StatesSource
- UL Solutions acquired Eurofins Electrical & Electronics testing business (MET Labs) | United Statesborderline fitSource
What drives consolidation in testing, inspection and certification
Much TIC work is mandated by codes, regulators or customer specifications, so demand tends to persist through economic cycles.
Accreditations, licensed inspectors and laboratory capacity take years to build, which may make acquisition the faster route into a new region or test capability.
Infrastructure spending, data-center construction and aging industrial assets are frequently cited by acquirers as sources of inspection and testing demand.
These observations reflect themes stated in the announcements we reviewed and our general view of the market; they are not findings measured from the dataset.
All eight niches in one file, with source URLs. Filter the niche column for this ranking.
Frequently asked questions
Who acquired the most testing, inspection and certification companies in 2026?
Between November 1, 2025 and October 25, 2026, the most active acquirers by number of announced deals were UES (Universal Engineering Sciences) (6), Certerra (5), Accredited Labs (5). Counts include only publicly announced acquisitions of U.S. and Canadian companies.
How many testing, inspection and certification acquisitions were announced in the past year?
We recorded 38 announced acquisitions by 17 acquirers. Because many small transactions are never announced, the true number is higher.
Are most TIC buyers private equity-backed?
In our data, 66% of the deals were made by acquirers owned by private equity firms. The rest were made by public companies and privately held strategic buyers.
What does this mean for an owner considering a sale?
An active market means more potential buyers, but serial acquirers usually have set valuation frameworks and integration plans. Owners tend to achieve better terms when several qualified buyers compete, including strategic buyers that appear less often in announcements. The ranking shows who is buying; it does not show who would pay the most for a particular company.
What is counted as a deal in this niche?
Testing, inspection and certification (TIC) firms: materials and construction testing, non-destructive testing, environmental and analytical laboratories, calibration, product testing and certification bodies, and asset-integrity inspection. Records that sit at the edge of that definition are marked as borderline in the CSV.
Methodology and sources
Laurent Capital Research compiled this dataset from public sources in October 2026 (sources retrieved October 26, 2026). It covers acquisitions announced from Nov 1, 2025 to Oct 25, 2026 in which the acquired company was headquartered in the United States or Canada. For each of eight niches we built a list of acquirers known to be active, read the news and press-release pages of each one we could reach, then reviewed wire services (PR Newswire, Business Wire, GlobeNewswire and others), trade publications and public deal trackers for deals by acquirers not on the initial list. A second collection pass, added to the dataset on October 27, 2026, contributed 37 further deals, mostly from the PrivSource deal tracker and trade publications; each was checked against the page it cites, and a private equity sponsor is shown only where that page names it.
Each press release or article was read and its facts recorded in a fixed schema: announcement date, acquirer, the acquirer’s private equity owner at the time (if any), target, target location, a short description of the target’s business, and the source URL. The press release is the preferred source; where none could be found or retrieved, the source is a trade publication or a public deal tracker (for example PrivSource, Levin Associates, Becker’s Hospital Review or the monthly sector reports of Janes Capital Partners). Where only a closing date or the date of a report was available, that date is used and the deal is flagged as such on the page and in the CSV.
Records were deduplicated on acquirer and target, and each deal is counted in one niche only. On review we removed 69 of 644 collected records: deals known only from a search-result snippet or a page that could not be read, deals with an unknown or out-of-window date, targets outside the United States and Canada or with an unconfirmed headquarters, duplicates, initial platform investments by private equity firms, deals outside a niche’s definition, and transactions with a disclosed value above $1 billion. Every remaining source link was requested on October 26, 2026 and none returned “not found” (some sites block automated requests); for the pages whose text could be read automatically, we confirmed that the page names the acquirer and the target.
Acquirers are ranked by the number of announced deals in a niche. The acquirer is the operating company that announced the acquisition (for example, a private equity-backed platform or a software group within a larger holding company), not its financial sponsor; the sponsor and, where relevant, the parent group are shown separately. Minority investments and purchases of municipal or government-owned assets are excluded.
Limitations. The counts include only deals that were publicly announced and that we could find and read. Many add-on acquisitions of small companies are never announced, some acquirers disclose deals only in aggregate, and a number of company newsrooms and trade-press archives could not be retrieved, so the totals understate actual activity, by more for some niches and acquirers than others; each niche page states its known coverage gaps. The revenue cycle management ranking in particular rests on limited data and should be read as preliminary. Niche boundaries require judgment; records marked “borderline” are included in the counts. Deal values are rarely disclosed for companies of this size and are not reported here. The data does not include any transaction advised by Laurent Capital.
- 1teamues.com. 6 deals sourced here
- 2accreditedlabs.com. 5 deals sourced here
- 3alliancetg.com. 4 deals sourced here
- 4certerra.com. 4 deals sourced here
- 5privsource.com. 3 deals sourced here
- 6prnewswire.com. 2 deals sourced here
- 7static.socotec.us. 2 deals sourced here
- 8ticsolutions.com. 2 deals sourced here
- 9business-sale.com. 1 deal sourced here
- 10businesswire.com. 1 deal sourced here
Data last updated Oct 27, 2026.
Cite this research
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Citation
Laurent Capital Research, “Most Active Acquirers of Testing, Inspection and Certification Companies (2026),” 2026, https://laurent.capital/research/most-active-acquirers/testing-inspection-certificationLink (HTML)
<a href="https://laurent.capital/research/most-active-acquirers/testing-inspection-certification">Most Active Acquirers of Testing, Inspection and Certification Companies (2026)</a> (Laurent Capital)Compiled from public sources for general information; not investment advice. Inclusion does not imply any relationship with, or endorsement by, the companies listed, and the data does not include any transaction advised by Laurent Capital. To report a missing or incorrect deal, write to info@laurent.capital with a link to the announcement.
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