Belgian pharma UCB is selling parts of its China business to Mubadala and CBC Group for $680 million. In addition to taking over UCB’s “mature product portfolio” in China, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund and investment firm duo also gain a manufacturing site in Zhuhai.
The treatments UCB is divesting fall under neurology and allergy, including Keppra (epilepsy), Vimpat (epilepsy), Neupro (Parkinson’s) as well as Zyrtec and Xyzal. Combined net China sales for these medicines in 2023 were €131 million ($141 million).
CBC, which got its start in Shanghai a decade ago as C-Bridge Capital but later moved to Singapore, has touted an investor-operator approach with its sizable healthcare bets.
It has teamed up with Mubadala in various ways on China opportunities. Mubadala invested in CBC’s China life science real estate fund last year. Together, they also co-led a $315 million round for Hasten Biopharma, which is striving to be “China’s leading healthcare company in chronic and age-related diseases, and acute and severe diseases.”
Wei FuThe investors appear to have similar ambitions in conditions of the central nervous system. Wei Fu, CEO of CBC Group, said in a statement that the hope is for UCB’s portfolio to serve “as an anchor asset to further build out a leading integrated CNS biopharma platform in China.”
“Healthcare, and specifically pharma carve-outs, are at the forefront” of Mubadala’s Asia strategy, the company added in its press release.
The Zhuhai site they’re acquiring is listed on UCB’s website as one of its four global manufacturing facilities, focused on “oral forms manufacturing and packaging operations for the local Chinese market.”
UCB will still stay in China, but its strategy is evolving toward a “stronger focus on innovation and partnership,” according to the company, which has had a presence in the country for 28 years.
“In the short term, UCB is exploring the launch of novel medicines in immunology, neurology, and rare diseases in China,” CEO Jean-Christophe Tellier said in a statement.
The divestment deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024.