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SK Holdings revealed its acquisition of a French drug-maker called Yposkesi this week. The third-largest conglomerate in South Korea made the purchase in its bid to strengthen its competitive power in the global market’s biotech sector.
Moreover, SK has acquired French drug manufacturer Yposkesi to expand into the rapidly growing contract manufacturing organization (CMO) business, the newly renamed holding company of SK Group said Wednesday.
SK completed the acquisition
The Korea Times reported that SK acquired 70% percent shares, and this includes management rights in the French company. The acquisition came four months after the South Korean company said it is in talks to purchase Yposkesi.
The price of the deal was not mentioned in the reports, so there is no clear figure how much SK shelled out for the acquisition. The deal has been completed, and Yposkesi will now be operated by SK Pharmteco, a CMO subsidiary owned by SK Inc. based in Sacramento.
"We are glad to advance into the gene therapy CMO business by investing in Yposkesi which has great capability and potential," Jang Dong Kyun, SK’s chief executive officer, said. "We will spare no efforts to help Yposkesi grow fast in the global market."
About Yposkesi
Yposkesi, the French cell, and gene therapy company, is also one of the largest Contract Development & Manufacturing Organizations (CDMO) in Europe. With the purchase of this company, SK will now be able to supply innovative drugs around the world through creating a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) business system, as per Aju Business Daily.
Yposkesi was launched in 2016 by AFM-Téléthon and by the SPI fund managed by Bpifrance. It is the first French firm to develop and produce gene and cell therapy products. The company’s goal is to create the first treatments available to patients then sell them for a fair price.
Meanwhile, this is SK Holding’s third acquisition deal in the global CMO industry as it aims to be one of the best players in the biotechnology industry. Its purchase of pharma and biotech companies shows its determination to rise above in the market for this field.
"SK plans to complete the value chain of its synthetic and biopharmaceutical CMO business in the U.S., Europe and Asia by 2025," SK’s head in bio investment center, Lee Dong Hoon, said. "We will foster SK Pharmteco as a global leading CMO that can supply synthetic, gene and cell therapy drugs to the global pharmaceutical market."
