À̹ÌÁö È®´ë AMPAC Fine Chemicals. [Photo provided by SK Holdings]
SK Holdings, the holding company of South Korea¡¯s SK Group, and AMPAC Fine Chemicals, an American API producer, Thursday announced that their respective boards of directors have approved SK`s acquisition of 100 percent of the ownership interests in AMPAC.
The deal value was not disclosed, but industry watchers estimate the trade to value around 800 billion won ($712.5 million).
SK Holdings shares gained 1.49 percent to close at 273,000 won in Seoul trading on Friday.
It would be the first case of acquisition of a U.S. API manufacturer by a Korean enterprise. Last year, SK acquired an Irish production site from BMS.
AMPAC headquartered in Sacramento County, San Francisco is a leading global supplier of high value-added APIs and intermediates in medical indications such as cancer, CNS and cardiovascular.
It has 500 plus employees working at three production sites and one research center in the U.S. The company has secured sole or preferred supplier status for a number of products that have a strong potential for growth into blockbuster drugs.
SK Biotek, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SK Holdings, is currently producing 400,000 liters of APIs in Korea and Ireland and the combination with AMPAC would raise the total capacity to 1.6 million liters after 2020, becoming the world¡¯s largest CDMO, said an SK official. SK Biotek has built a strong relationship with major global pharmaceutical companies since its inception in 1998 as an API manufacturer.
SK Holdings has identified pharmaceuticals as a growth engine and it aims to be a global player in the CDMO market through organic growth and the acquisition of AMPAC.
The combination of SK Biotek`s presence in Europe and Asia and AMPAC¡¯s robust presence in the U.S. will create synergy for further growth, the official added.
By Kang Doo-soon and Minu Kim
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]