Vita Genomics Inc (賽亞基因科技), Taiwan’s largest genomics-based biotechnological and biopharmaceutical company, is in talks with potential buyers eyeing the company’s unique business model, a senior company executive said.
The development came after the New Taipei-based company announced plans to forge partnerships between testing facilities and hospitals aimed at growing mutual clientele and profits, Vita Genomics general manager Eddy Hsieh (謝春成) said.
Hsieh joined Vita Genomics in October 2013 when it was in the red and saw the company into profit last year.
Hsieh said he plans to build Vita Genomics into the healthcare industry’s “7-Eleven,” — the nation’s largest convenience store chain with more than 3,000 outlets.
“Some Taiwanese firms approached us with a view to acquiring Vita Genomics, attracted by its business potential,” Hsieh said.
He refused to name the interested parties for fear of sinking the deals prematurely except to say that they are in the technology sector.
Under Hsieh’s leadership, Vita Genomics is seeking the integration of the companies in its supply chain, including genomics testing facilities, pathology-testing laboratories and clinics.
There are more than 8,000 clinics in the nation and Vita Genomics aims to enter an alliance with at least 5,000 of them in the next three years, allowing them to overcome their inability to perform tests, Hsieh said.
That would give the company the top position in the industry with a 50 percent market share, he said, adding there are no competitors on the horizon.
However, integration is not an easy process, as many clinics prefer to maintain the “status quo,” Hsieh said, adding that like traditional grocery stores, they will be forced out of the market, if they reject strategic alliances.
The company would agree to acquisition bids that might help accelerate the integration, Hsieh said.
Vita Genomics has a market value of NT$3.2 billion (US$101.32 million) after the company booked NT$103 million in net income last year, or NT$2.37 per share, Hsieh said.
The company is in the process of increasing its capital by NT$800 million — from NT$460 million — and it is slated to list on the Emerging Stock Market in June and trade shares on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market next year, Hsieh said.
“The capital increase is virtually completed as venture capital funds at home and overseas have lent their support,” Hsieh said.
China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), Transglobe Life Insurance Co (全球人壽) and government-owned National Development Fund (國發基金) have contributed to the boost in capital, Hsieh said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS