MÄNNEDORF, Switzerland, October 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Tecan has opened its new Asia Pacific region headquarters, based in the heart of Shanghai's pharmaceutical and life science centre. The launch of the regional headquarters reflects the Company's significant growth and strong commitment to the market in China, as well as the whole Asia Pacific region, and will improve service and support for customers and distribution partners alike.

The new office was opened by Thomas Bachmann, CEO of the Tecan Group, on the 28th October, 2008, at a ceremony attended by key customers from around the Asia Pacific region, major distributors, officials and representatives from key Chinese Provinces, the Swiss and Austrian Embassies in China and the Tecan Group. Guests were welcomed to the Shanghai office by the CEO and an official from the Chinese Government, and were treated to a traditional Chinese ceremonial inauguration of the facility, followed by a celebratory dinner.

Under the new terms, the new Asia Pacific headquarters in Shanghai will now sell directly to many of the major multinational biotechnology, pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies flourishing in this rapidly developing area. Tecan's long-established Beijing operations will maintain close regional relationships with its customers in China. Similarly, a crucial well-established network of distributors will continue to cover the Asia Pacific region as before, including the important after-sales customer support. Tecan will also be able to support its distributors in these efforts by providing training, warehousing of spare parts and improved services out of Shanghai.

Mr Bachmann said: We are delighted to be making this positive move into what is almost certainly one of the fastest growing regions in life sciences today. With a stronger presence and new facilities, we will be able to improve sales coverage, service and support to all of our customers and partners in the entire Asia Pacific region.

For more information about Tecan, please contact: info@tecan.com, http://www.tecan.com

About Tecan

Tecan (http//www.tecan.com) is a leading global supplier of laboratory instruments and solutions for the biopharma, forensic and diagnostic industries. The company specializes in the development, production and distribution of automation solutions for life science laboratories. Through its REMP subsidiary (www.remp.com), Tecan is the premier supplier of automated laboratory storage and logistics systems. Tecan's clients include pharmaceutical and biotech companies, university research departments, diagnostic laboratories and companies as well as forensics laboratories. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has production, research and development sites in both North America and Europe and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2007, Tecan achieved sales of CHF 414.4 million (USD 345.3 million; EUR 252.7 million). Registered shares of the Tecan Group are traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (TK: TECN/Reuters: TECZn.S/Valor: 1210019).

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For more information about Tecan, please contact: Tecan Group Ltd., Seestrasse 103, CH-8708 Männedorf, Tel. +41-44-922-8111, Fax: +41-44-922-81-12