HONG KONG/SINGAPORE – Private equity firm Hillhouse and Japan’s Mitsui & Co. have emerged as the final bidders for Singapore-headquartered traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) chain Yu Yan San International, worth 700 million yen. The transaction could potentially exceed the US dollar (S$903,249). 1 million people), two people familiar with the matter said.
Yu Yan Sun shareholders, led by Singapore-based asset manager Tower Capital Asia, are expected to hold a management presentation with bidders next week, one of the people said.
Sources said a final binding bid is expected to be submitted by February, before the Chinese New Year.
A third bidder is also on board for the Yu Yan Sun deal, one of the people and a third party familiar with the deal said, but Reuters could not confirm the identity.
All sources declined to be named because the process is private.
Hillhouse and Mitsui & Co. declined to comment. Eu Yan Sang and Tower Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Jan. 12.
With over 140 years of history, Eu Yan Sang currently operates a distribution network with over 170 retail outlets in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore.
According to its website, the company operates 30 traditional Chinese medicine clinics in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and mainland China, as well as a restaurant in Malaysia.
A consortium made up of Tower Capital, a unit of Singapore’s Temasek, and Yu Yan Sun’s group chief executive Richard Yu, took the company private from the Singapore Exchange in 2016. The transaction values Yu Yan Sun at approximately US$196 million on the exchange. time.
According to a statement at the time, Mitsui & Co. had an indirect interest in You Yang Sun by joining Tower Capital Asia Fund, an investor in Yu Yang Sun, in 2022. It is said that there is.
Hillhouse, founded by Chinese-born trader Lei Zhang, is a minority shareholder in Yu Yan Sun, who first invested in the company before it was delisted in 2016.Reuters