deals and Financings

Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store Co. made an unsolicited offer of “not less than” $966 million to buy China Cord Blood Corp. (NYSE: CO), a cord blood banking and stem cell processing company (see story). In April, Golden Meditech (HK: 801), China Cord Blood's major owner, made a $771 million offer to take the company private. China Cord Blood has $394 million in cash and annual revenues of about $102 million. If re-listed in Hong Kong or on a China exchange, China Cord Blood could be worth $5 billion. 

Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical Co., a unit of China Resources, will pay $209 million to acquire Zhejiang Zhongyi Pharmaceutical (see story). Zhongyi makes a variety of generic chemical drugs and TCM products. The present owners of Zhongyi have promised Sanjiu the company will produce a profit of $10.8 million in 2015. If that doesn't happen, the owners will make up the difference. 

Mevion Medical Systems, a Massachusetts company that makes proton therapy systems, announced a financing of up to $200 million led by two China Investors, HOPU Investments and YuanMing Capital (see story). At the same time, Mevion and the two lead investors will form a China joint venture to produce, sell and service Mevion proton therapy systems in China. Joe Jachinowski, Mevion's CEO, told ChinaBio® Today in an email that the China JV will be funded by HOPU and YuanMing, over and above their contributions to the financing. Mevion will contribute its expertise to the JV, which will include helping the JV manufacture the machine in China. 

Cold Genesys, a Los Angeles-area onco-immunotherapy pharma, raised $10 million in a Series B funding led by two China-affiliated investors, Ally Bridge Group and WI Harper (see story). One year ago, Cold Genesys raised $13.8 million in a Series A round from Ally Bridge. Cold Genesys will use the capital for a pivotal trial of CG0070, which is designed to replicate in tumors and create an immune response against cancer cells.