Taisho wants larger stake in DHG Pharmaceutical

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Japan’s Taisho Pharmaceutical Co Ltd has proposed increasing its ownership in DHG Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company by 21.7 percent.

According to DHG Pharmaceutical, the Japanese firm has made a public offer to purchase more than 28.35 million shares.

The offered price is120,000 VND (5.16 USD) per share, putting the value of the deal at an estimated 3.4 trillion VND (146.2 million USD). Taisho will use its available cash to carry out the deal.

Taisho currently owns more than 45.76 million shares in DHG Pharmaceutical, equal to a nearly 35 percent stake.

If the deal is successfully executed, Taisho will raise its ownership in DHG Pharmaceutical to nearly 56.7 percent, or more than 74 million shares.

DHG Pharmaceutical has more than 130.7 million shares listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange with code DHG.

The firm’s shares edged up 0.3 percent to end Wednesday at 119,000 VND per share.

The company’s share price has jumped 40 percent since February 11 and nearly 62 percent since the beginning of the year.

Taisho first invested in DHG Pharmaceutical in May 2016 by purchasing a 24.4 percent stake for 100 million USD.

The Japanese firm made two more purchases of DHG Pharmaceutical shares in 2018 that increased its ownership, first to 24.9 percent and then to 35 percent.

In July 2018, the State Securities Commission (SSC) approved DHG Pharmaceutical’s request to lift the foreign ownership bar from the 49 percent limit.

The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) – the representative of the Government that controls State capital in local companies – is the largest shareholder at DHG Pharmaceutical with a 43.3 percent stake.

DHG Pharmaceutical is the largest Vietnamese pharmaceutical firm by market capitalisation and revenue.

As of the end of trading on March 6, the market value of DHG Pharmaceutical was more than 15.5 trillion VND.

In 2018, DHG Pharmaceutical reported nearly 3.9 trillion VND in total revenue and 651.6 billion VND in post-tax profit.

Its full-year revenue fulfilled 97 percent of the target and was 4 percent lower than the 2017 figure. Meanwhile, its post-tax profit rose slightly from the 2017 number of 642 billion VND.-VNS/VNA