DSM acquires share in Chinese pharmaceutical company NCPC

Dutch chemical manufacturer DSM has acquired a 9.77 percent share in North China Pharmaceutical Group Corporation (NCPC) of Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, an official with the NCPC said Friday.

The official said DSM, NCPC and its Shanghai-listed subsidiary NCPC ListCo signed the investment contracts Thursday.

DSM spent 827 million yuan (121.1 million U.S. dollars) for the share in the NCPC and will set up three joint ventures with NCPC ListCo.

The NCPC ListCo will hold a 70 percent share in the nutrition production joint venture and 49 percent in the two antibiotic joint ventures, the official said.

The DSM said on its Web site that the investment will leverage its technology and management capabilities, while the NCPC will bring to the joint ventures its existing factories, which produce Vitamin C and beta lactam antibiotics, as well marketing and sales force.

The overall strategic partnership with NCPC provides an accelerated growth into the Chinese Market and will contribute to our target of 1.5-billion-U.S.-dollar sales in China in 2010,  JanZuidam, DSM's deputy chairman of the managing board, as quoted by the Web site.

DSM, headquartered in the Netherlands and listed on Euronext Amsterdam, has annual sales of almost 8.8 billion euros (12 billion dollars) and employs some 23,000 people worldwide. Its sales in China were 1.151 billion dollars last year.

NCPC employs 18,500 people and achieved 877 million dollars in domestic and export sales.

Source: Xinhua