Bloomberg -- Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., China’s second-largest drug distributor, will sell new shares to Temasek Holdings Pte and Pfizer Inc. (PFE) in an offering in Hong Kong of as much as $2.2 billion of stock to fund acquisitions.
Temasek, a Singapore state investment company, Pfizer, Guoco Group and Bank of China Group Investment will buy a total of $550 million shares for HK$21.80 to HK$26 apiece, according to a marketing document sent to investors today.
The funds will enable Shanghai Pharma to buy manufacturing assets in China, where demand for medicines is forecast by IMS Health Inc. to expand at least 25 percent this year. A soon-to- be-released government plan may push for the nation’s three biggest drug companies to increase their share of the market to 30 percent to 35 percent by 2015 from 21 percent in 2009, the 21st Century Business Herald reported last week.
