Sino Biopharmaceutical last week signed an agreement to sell its eye-care medicine business to United States contact lens accessories giant Bausch & Lomb for US$200 million.
Sino Biopharm will dispose of its entire interest in wholly-owned subsidiary Sino Concept, whose sole assets are 55 per cent equity stakes in two mainland operations, Shandong Chia Tai Freda Pharmaceutical and Shandong Chia Tai Freda Packaging Resources.
The sale will mark Sino Biopharm's departure from the eye-care medicine business, which accounted for 33 per cent of the company's profits and revenues last year.
Sino Concept's net assets stood at $128.7 million at the end of last year. The $1.55 billion price tag translates to 18.6 times Sino Concepts' net profits last year of $83.4 million.
Neither group chairman Tse Ping nor executive director Stephen Tse Hsin offered details on how the company plans to fill the void in net profit contributions after the sale.
Tse Ping said the company would use the proceeds to invest through acquisitions and as working capital for their current pharmaceutical developments.
