A pharmaceutical warehouse of DHG. Taisho Pharmaceutical Co Ltd acquired an additional 20.6 million shares of DHG, lifting its stake to 50.78 per cent. — Photo youtube.com

Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (DHG) has become a subsidiary of Japan’s Taisho Pharmaceutical Co Ltd after the Japanese drugmaker acquired an additional 20.6 million shares of DHG, lifting its stake to 50.78 per cent.

The number of shares acquired was smaller than Taisho’s initial offer to purchase a total of nearly 28.4 million shares from existing shareholders.

At the offering price of VND120,000 (US$5.15) per share, Taisho spent about VND2.47 trillion ($106 million).

Taisho is a big pharmaceutical firm in Japan, manufacturing and selling over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and health-related products. It holds 13.5 per cent of the OTC market in Japan and is seeking to expand its coverage to ASEAN and East Asian markets.

The Japanese company made the first investment in DHG in May 2016 by purchasing a 24.4 million share stake for $100 million. It made two additional purchases last year, seeking to take control of the Vietnamese drugmaker.

DHG is the largest Vietnamese pharmaceutical firm by market capitalisation and revenue. Based on its share price of VND114,300 per share on Friday, the market value of DHG reached nearly VND14.8 trillion ($635.2 million).

The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) is the second largest shareholder with a 43.31 per cent stake.

DHG posted revenues of VND908 billion and pre-tax profit of VND171 billion in the first quarter of this year, down 15 per cent in revenue and 10 per cent in profit year on year.

The company said the declines in both revenue and profit were due to the halted distribution of MSD and Eugica products (from April 2018 and June 2018).

It has targeted total revenues of more than VND3.94 trillion and pre-tax profit of VND754 billion for the whole year. — VNS