Bora Pharmaceuticals Co (保瑞藥業) is still looking at contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) as potential merger and acquisition (M&A) targets, as the company continues to expand its business scale, the medicine and healthcare product maker said yesterday.
The company has seen its market value surge by more than 50-fold in seven years through a series of strategic M&As, including acquiring Japan-based Eisai Co’s subsidiary and plant in Tainan’s Guantian District (官田) in 2013 and US-based Impax Laboratories Inc’s subsidiary and plant in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) in 2018.
“We expect to see new M&A opportunities emerge next year,” Chinese-language online news outlet Cnyes.com quoted Bora Pharmaceuticals chairman Bobby Sheng (盛保熙) as saying. “There are not many buyers in the US M&A market and the valuations of many CDMOs are much cheaper than before, which is relatively beneficial to us.”
Sheng made the remarks at a ceremony at the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), where the company made its share debut on the main board after transferring its listing from the Taipei Exchange.
Bora Pharmaceuticals shares fell 3.1 percent to close at NT$657, in line with losses across the main exchange. Prior to yesterday, the stock had surged more than 60 percent since the beginning of this year.
Due to the growing market demand for drugs, several major clients have already discussed placing more orders, Bora Pharmaceuticals said.
As a result, the company has furthered its acquisition efforts, including factories, companies and product portfolios, it said.
It would also continue to adjust product strategy at its subsidiary TWi Pharmaceuticals Inc (安成藥) in a bid to diversify away from generic drugs, after the unit in August acquired six brand product licenses and technologies from Morristown, New Jersey-based Almatica Pharma Inc, it said.
The new strategy would enable Bora to leverage its sales platforms to enter the brand product market, create a new revenue driver and improve its profit margin, as well as allow the company to have more resources for future investment, it said.
Bora Pharmaceuticals’ consolidated revenue grew 50.25 percent year-on-year to NT$13.25 billion (US$422.5 million) in the first 11 months of this year, ranking second among Taiwanese pharmaceutical companies, TWSE data showed.
Net profit in the first three quarters totaled NT$2.47 billion, up 149.43 percent from the same period last year, with earnings per share rising from NT$10.12 to NT$24.63 and gross margin improving from 35.02 percent to 48.16 percent, the data showed.
