Mega to buy Bio-Life in B605m deal

100% acquisition to drive regional growth

SET-listed Mega Lifesciences Plc, a pharmaceutical and food supplement company, has announced it will acquire BioLife Marketing Sdn, a Malaysian herbal medicine and food supplement company, for 605 million baht.

Mega yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to buy 100% of Bio-Life’s shares from DKSH Resources (Malaysia) Sdn. The acquisition will make Mega one of the top food supplement brands in Malaysia and help drive business growth in Southeast Asia.

“Malaysia is a sizeable market with strong economic fundamentals. Bio-Life has 25 years of history and is well-known as a scientifically proven food supplement brand. Additionally, its thinking and way of doing business fits with our philosophy,” said Vivek Dhawan, chief executive of Mega Lifesciences.

“Bio-Life is a great company and Mega is glad to have it as a major part of our journey into Malaysia,” he added.

Through this acquisition deal, Mega further aims to bring more focus to its over-the-counter food supplements and prescription products.

“In the future, this agreement will boost our plans to develop a wider range of food supplements and overthe-counter drugs in Malaysia. We’re looking forward to having a successful future and strong brand with Bio-Life,” said Mr Dhawan.

Mega aims to significantly boost market share and reach in Malaysia while additionally augmenting Mega’s existing product lines with Bio-Life’s product portfolio, which focuses on immune system support, general health, heart, eye and gut health, as well as a broad range of supplements.

Bio-Life is one of Mega’s key planned investments to have taken place this year with an outlay of about 605 million baht.

Mr Dhawan noted that Mega plans to increase its investment in Maxxcare in Myanmar, which will be its second largescale investment next year.

“Maxxcare will be integral to our plans to build a new state-of-the-art distribution centre for our products in Yangon, entailing an outlay of 389 million baht to be spent over 2017-18,” he said.

Mega’s revenue grew 5% to 6.21 billion baht in the first nine months of this year with a net profit of 500 million. Its total revenue was nearly 8.1 billion baht last year.

The company exports its products to 32 countries.

Bio-Life recorded sales of 427 million baht and a net profit of about 36 million in 2015.

Established in 1988 in Kuala Lumpur, Bio-Life is a leading local player with its business covering nutritional supplements and herbal remedies.

Its product categories include essential fatty acids, nutritional formulations, co-branded probiotics, herbal formulations and medicinal mushroom formulations.

MEGA shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 22.50 baht, up 20 satang, in trade worth 194 million baht.