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.
DAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) share of the global foundry market rose to almost 70 percent last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Thursday. The contract chipmaker posted US$122.54 billion in revenue, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 69.9 percent of the global market, TrendForce said. Its share was up from 64.4 percent in 2024, it said. TSMC’s closest rival, Samsung Electronics, was a distant second, posting US$12.63 billion in sales, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, for a 7.2 percent share of the global market. In the
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
Chinese entrepreneur Frank Gao used to spend long hours running his social media accounts but now outsources the chore to artificial intelligence (AI) agent tool OpenClaw, which is taking China by storm despite official warnings over cybersecurity. OpenClaw, created in November by an Austrian coder, differs from bots such as ChatGPT because it can execute real-life tasks such as sending e-mails, organizing files or even booking flight tickets. “Since January, I’ve spent hours on the lobster every day,” Gao said in an interview, referring to OpenClaw’s red crustacean mascot. “We’re family.” After downloading OpenClaw, users connect it to artificial intelligence models of their
RSS