State group to make pharmaceuticals business its new earnings driver
State-owned conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) is in talks to buy out the country's top drugmaker Sanjiu Enterprise Group as it aims to make pharmaceuticals its new earnings driver.
'We're seeking to buy 100 per cent of Sanjiu,' president Charley Song Lin said.
China Resources planned to merge Sanjiu with its existing drug business, including newly acquired China Worldbest Group, another mainland drugmaker, Mr Song said.
Mr Song did not disclose the value of the possible deal but denied a previous mainland newspaper report that it might jointly restructure the medicine maker with Deutsche Bank.
Last week, the 21st Century Business Herald cited sources as saying that China Resources was offering 3.9 billion yuan for 70 per cent of Sanjiu, which makes products under the well-known '999' brand in the mainland.
According to Xinhua, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission had initially selected China Resources as the strategic investor of the debt-laden Sanjiu.
