ISO 9001 certification body SAI Global, which had previously purchased former registrar QMI, is itself now up for sale. SAI’s Assurance Services division, estimated at a value of $400 million, will be auctioned to potential buyers. Financial Review reports that interested buyers include current competitors Intertek, Bureau Veritas and SGS.
The sale continues to demonstrate the “collapse” of the ISO certification body industry, as more and more larger firms shut their doors or sell their certification bureaus to competitors. Oxebridge estimates the primary source of individual certification body expansion is through mergers, and not by expansion of the market to new customers.
The number of small accredited registrars within the US has declined, as many smaller firms are swallowed by larger certification bodies; at the same time, the number of unaccredited, or self-accredited, “certificate mills” is on the increase.
