How savvy Li Ka-shing profits from this loss-making firm’s ‘healthy ageing’ product
- ChromaDex’s Tru Niagen is distributed by Watsons and won the investment backing of Li Ka-shing
- Li began taking the ‘healthy ageing’ supplement in 2017
Li Ka-shing, one of Hong Kong’s best known tycoons in his nineties, puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to fighting ageing.
He has been taking Tru Niagen, a “healthy ageing supplement” made by one of his investees, since he was first introduced to it more than two years ago, according to Frank Jaksch, the co-founder and chairman of ChromaDex.
Li’s private venture capital unit Horizons Ventures ploughed US$25 million into Nasdaq-listed ChromaDex in April 2017 and is now its largest shareholder, with a 13 per cent stake.
That was at the time when ChromaDex, which is listed on Nasdaq, had a US$46 million fundraising drive to transition towards the consumer products market from the low margin ingredients supply business.
ChromaDex reported a loss of US$33 million last year, reflecting its fourth straight annual loss, even as Li made a paper gain thanks to a 42 per cent rise in the company’s shares since his investment. A call into Li’s press person about his use of Tru Niagen was not immediately returned.