Singapore's Eu Yan Sang to be acquired by Mitsui, Rohto Pharmaceutical for US$594 million
Japan's Mitsui & Co said on Thursday (Apr 4) it had teamed up with Rohto Pharmaceutical Co to buy Eu Yan Sang International in a deal valuing the Singapore-based traditional Chinese medicines firm at S$800 million (US$594 million).
Mitsui said in a statement that a special purpose company jointly owned by Mitsui and Rohto would acquire around 86 per cent of Eu Yan Sang from Righteous Crane Holding. Righteous Crane Holding is owned by a fund managed by Tower Capital Asia, a unit of Temasek Holdings and founding family members of Eu Yan Sang, according to a separate statement issued by Tower Capital Asia on Thursday.
Following the deal, a takeover bid for the remaining 14 per cent of Eu Yan Sang will be made, while the founding family of Eu Yan Sang will reinvest partially into the Misui-Rohto special purpose company, Mitsui added. Reuters reported in January that Mitsui and Hillhouse had emerged as the final bidders vying for Eu Yan Sang.
How Singapore-based Eu Yan Sang grew from one shop to a household name
FIRST SHOP IN GOPENG, PERAK 1879
Singapore-based traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) company Eu Yan Sang International will be acquired by Japan's Mitsui & Co and Rohto Pharmaceutical Co, in a deal valued at S$800 million (US$594 million).
From a small shop in Perak, the company has grown in 145 years to more than 170 stores across Asia. Here is a look back at its journey through the years. In 1873, Eu Yan Sang's founder Eu Kong left his hometown of Foshan in Guangdong, China and travelled to Malaya to pursue new opportunities.
Using Chinese medicine and herbs to relieve tin mine workers from opium addiction, Eu Kong established his first shop in Gopeng, Perak in 1879. The store was named Yan Sang, which means "caring for mankind" in Cantonese.
Eu Yan Sang
Founded 1879; 145 years ago, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia
Eu Yan Sang (Chinese: 余仁生; pinyin: Yú Rén Shēng) is a company that specialises in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It currently runs 170 retail outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau, plus four factories in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The group also operates 28 TCM clinics in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
The holding company, Eu Yan Sang International Limited, was listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange since 2000. It had been delisted in October 2016 and now majority-owned by the Righteous Crane Holding Pte Ltd – a consortium set up by The Eu Family, Tower Capital Asia and Temasek Holdings.
In the 1870s, founder Eu Kong Pai, better known as Eu Kong, left the village of Foshan in Guangdong, China and settled down in the small mining town of Gopeng, Perak. He noticed that the tin mine coolies were heavily dependent on opium as the easiest method for immediate relief for their medical needs. The majority of them were illiterate and oblivious to the dangers of opium to their health. Eu Kong brought in herbal remedies to nurse their health, thus the set up of 'Yan Sang' shop. Eu Kong opened his first Chinese medicine shop in 1879 in Gopeng. He died suddenly in 1890, aged 37.
