Lotus Pharmaceutical Co (美時化學製藥), which makes and distributes oral and injected medicine, yesterday said its future parent company Alvogen Inc spent US$187 million to acquire South Korean-based Dream Pharma Ltd, which is to be put under Lotus’ control once the deal is approved.
The US-based Alvogen, which makes generic drugs and biosimilars, plans to acquire the company through its South Koran subsidiary Kunwha Pharmaceutical Co, and the deal is still pending approval from the South Korean government, Lotus said.
Alvogen expects the deal to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. The deal would make Kunwha the largest generic drug maker in South Korea, Lotus said.
The acquisition should strengthen Kunwha’s retail routes in South Korea and increase Kunwha’s product portfolio because the two companies sell different products, and Alvogen is set to sell its products to Taiwan and other markets in Asia using Alvogen’s networks, Lotus said.
“[The Asia-Pacific region] is one of the fastest-growing regions globally for generic pharmaceuticals. The market remains very fragmented, which provides an excellent opportunity for Alvogen to play a leading role in further industry consolidation,” Alvogen said in its statement yesterday.
Dream Pharma, a subsidiary of Hanwha Chemical Corp, which makes polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride plasticizer and base chemicals, reported revenue of about US$100 million last year, with 56 percent of that from sales of weight-loss drugs, Lotus said.
With 100 drugs currently in the pipeline, Dream Pharma accounts for 35 percent of the South Korean weight-loss drug market, according to Lotus.
“Dream Pharma is not a core business for Hanwha, and we believe we can increase its profit by adjusting Dream Pharma’s structure after acquiring it,” Lotus vice president Hung Yao-le (洪堯樂) said by telephone yesterday.
Alvogen is to spend US$200 million to acquire 67 percent of Lotus’ shares on Aug. 12, and Lotus also plans to spend US$180 million to seize 100 percent of South Korea-based Alvogen Korea and other Asian subsidiaries of Alvogen, Lotus said.
After Lotus acquired Alvogen Korea, Lotus would have a 67 percent stake in Kunwha, which posted a revenue of about US$80 million last year, Lotus said.
Both Dream Pharma and Kunwere in the black for last year, Hung said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”