THE new state-of-the-art headquarters of life science company BBI Group in Crumlin has been officially opened.

Economy and transport secretary Ken Skates visited the new facility this week to cut the ribbon at the company's new global headquarters.

BBI has relocated operations from Blaenavon, Cardiff and Dundee into a single site where it will run its entire operation, creating and protecting more than 360 jobs by 2020.

The new facility has been supported by £1.8 million from the Welsh Government as part of the Our Valleys, Our Future programme, which is aiming to create and protect jobs and regenerate communities in the area.

Mr Skates applauded BBI as "a made-in-Wales success story".

“I am delighted that Welsh Government support has enabled the company to establish its global headquarters here and centralise its manufacturing and development activities in Crumlin, bringing new and high quality job opportunities to the south Wales Valleys," he said.

“This is absolutely in line with the ambitions of our high level plan Our Valleys Our Future, and with the aspirations of my Economic Action Plan, which aims to ensure that the fruits of economic prosperity fall much more evenly across Wales."

The company's chairman Alan Peterson said: “The opening of our new global headquarters is a significant step towards realising our strategic long-term growth plans.

"It gives us the opportunity to compete more effectively in our key markets in Europe, USA and China.

“The Crumlin site enables BBI to drive our customers’ future growth by expanding our capacity to provide key reagents and services for the healthcare diagnostics industry.

"We’re delighted that our global headquarters is now open and we are able to contribute to the local economy and offer quality job opportunities to the local community.”