Mubadala Development Company, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment arm, and a consortium led by a healthcare-dedicated investment firm has agreed to acquire a 46.9 percent stake in South Korea’s leading botox maker, Hugel.
The consortium led by CBC Group, Asia’s largest healthcare investment company, signed a “definitive agreement” to acquire the stake in Hugel, which has a market capitalization of $2.5 billion, Mubadala said. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
South Korea’s GS Holdings and private equity company IMM Investment, which has more than $4.7 billion of assets under management, are also part of the investor group that bought the stake from Bain Capital.
“This opportunity cements Mubadala Life Sciences’ entry into Asia, alongside our colleagues from Mubadala’s China Investment Programme team, who already have an established presence in China and a long-standing relationship with CBC,” said Ms. Camilla Macapili Languille, head of Life Sciences at Mubadala.
Mubadala, which has an asset base of $243.4 billion, invests on behalf of Abu Dhabi’s government. The sovereign fund, which is driving the emirate’s efforts to diversify its revenue base, is now focusing more on investments in health care, life sciences, consumer-focused businesses, renewable energy and the mobility sectors.
Hugel is one of the global leaders in aesthetic products like botulinum toxin, commonly known as Botox, and hyaluronic acid fillers. It also develops, manufactures and distributes “cosmeceutical” products, which are cosmetics with medicinal properties.
GS Holding, whose portfolio spans across the energy, retail, construction and service sectors, said it will work with CBC, Mubadala and IMM in “taking Hugel to the next level of growth by combining our respective expertise with the company’s well-positioned product offering and competitiveness in the global market.”
“By leveraging our foothold in international markets, we are confident that Hugel as a Korea-based company will become a leading global aesthetics business by expanding significantly into the US, Europe, China and the rest of the world,” said Mr. Michael Keyoung, CBC’s managing director and head of North America and Korea.
“Embarking on this partnership underscores our intention to expand our business by diversifying our bio portfolio,” said chairman of GS Holding, Mr. Huh Tae-soo.
The deal also marks the healthcare-focused CBC’s entry into the medical aesthetics sector, as it continues to build its portfolio of pharmaceuticals and develop the biotechnology, medical technology and service sectors.
