Nycomed Spent USD210mn Controlling Techpool

SHANGHAI, November 2, SinoCast ? Swiss pharmaceutical company Nycomed on November 1, 2010 announced that it had acquired a 51.34% stake in Guangdong Techpool Bio-Pharma Co., Ltd. at USD 210 million to become the controlling shareholder of the latter.

Earlier, Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (SPG, SHSE: 601607) was the largest shareholder of the Guangdong-based company with a 40.81% stake.

The cooperation is expected to bet on the large number of older people in China, an executive at the foreign shareholder. According to statistics, the number of older people aging over 65 years will arrive at 160 million by 2014, so the related pharmaceutical needs will grow greatly. Depending on the sales channels of the Guangdong-based company, the foreign giant can expand its presence in the Chinese market at a faster speed.

In 2010, the Swiss company witnessed sales value of up to CNY 1.5 billion (including CNY 575 million from Techpool), which helped the foreign company squeeze into top 20 trans-national pharmaceutical firms in China.