Huapont Life to buy 70% stake in Swiss firm

Huapont Life Sciences Co Ltd, a Chongqing-based pharmaceutical maker, said on Tuesday it will buy a 70 percent stake in Swiss Biological Medicine Group Ltd with no more than 210 million yuan ($32.82 million).

The Swiss company owns Paracelsus Suisse, a holistic medicine center for tumor treatment, anti-aging therapies and treatment of chronic diseases.

Shares in Huapont Life closed 5.97 percent higher at 14.2 yuan on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Huapont Life's strategy is to contribute to the development of the healthcare industry through win-win alliances, the company said in a statement. Healthcare will be the new growth area for the pharmaceutical company, Huapont Life said.

It further said it will bring Paracelsus Suisse's technologies to China through training courses, co-research and joint ventures.

Huapont Life is making tremendous efforts to grow in the healthcare industry, said Deng Zhouyu, an analyst with Guosen Securities.

The Swiss acquisition will make the company larger and stronger in the industry as well as help it to expand in the middle and high-end healthcare markets, Deng said.

The company will pare its exposure to its agrochemical subsidiaries, which hitherto were its business focus. From now on, it appears healthcare will be Huapont Life's main business, Deng said.

Beijing Nutrichem Company Ltd, the wholly owned agrochemical subsidiary of Huapont Life, will be listed this month on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, also known as the New Third Board. Huapont Life will focus on its healthcare alliance, said Tang Peihui, an analyst with Fortune Securities.

For Huapont Life, acquisitions, especially overseas ones, are an important means to grow in the healthcare industry, he said.

In September, it bought Rheintal Klinik GmbH and Co Porten KG in Germany for 5.87 million euros ($6.22 milion). Later, the medical rehabilitation institution became Huapont Life's subsidiary.

Huapont Life is among the few pharmaceutical companies whose business rose sharply so far this year, thanks to its acquisition of Tibet Linzhi Baisheng Medicine in 2013. Huapont Life's net profit for the first three quarters was 591 million yuan, up 60 percent year-on-year. It expects its 2015 net profit to be between 622 million yuan and 751 million yuan, according to its periodical financial results.