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Medical diagnostics firm Randox has bought an 18-acre industrial site in Larne.

The property was sold by the Caterpillar manufacturing firm, which put it on the market in November for £3.25m.

Randox said the site will play an integral role in the company's life sciences infrastructure.

The firm's main facility is at the site of the former Massereene army base in Antrim.

The company's deal with Caterpillar was

In 2021, Randox made one of the largest annual profits ever recorded by a Northern Ireland based business.

The £275m pre-tax profit was driven by the firm's role in providing Covid-19 tests.

Between January 2020 and December 2021, the UK's Department of Health awarded 22 contracts to Randox, or its strategic partner, with a maximum value of £777m.

Those Covid testing contracts were investigated by the National Audit Office (NAO) over concerns about lobbying and contracts awarded without competitive tendering.

The NAO concluded that it had "not seen any evidence that the government's contracts with Randox were awarded improperly".

However, it added that the Department of Health "did not document key decisions adequately, disclose ministerial meetings with Randox fully or keep full records of ministerial discussions involving Randox".

Randox has consistently defended its Covid testing contracts and performance.

The firm also said the actual total paid from the contracts was £469m.

Caterpillar's decision to sell part of its Larne site came a year after it said it was planning to cut 700 jobs in the town.

The business has been cutting and consolidating its Northern Ireland operations for over a decade and previously sold another facility in Monkstown to the Cookstown-based CDE Group.