Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Bioton, Poland’s listed insulin producer whose 45-percent is owned by Prokom Investment, bought Chinese SciGen in October. Now, the Polish company wants to increase the development in Asia.
We have just signed a framework joint venture agreement in China, Wieslaw Walendziak, the member of Bioton’s supervisory board and Prokom Investment deputy CEO said.
Bioton and SciGen will acquire a majority stake in a company which is going to build a facility in Hefei, China. The plant will produce human insulin and hepatitis vaccine. The Chinese Hefei Life Science & Technology Park Investments and Development will take part in the project. Bioton hopes the facility to be launched within 18 months. The Chinese insulin market, today worth USD 250m, is going to grow to USD 700m within five years. Bioton’s managers said before, that they want to control 15 percent of the Chinese market in 2009.
Chinese plans are not everything.
We are looking for development opportunities in Ukraine, too, Wieslaw Walendziak added.
According to “Puls Biznesu” source, Bioton would like to launch a new factory in Ukraine. It is currently building a facility in Russia for USD 20m. The plant will be launched in two years. It is going to be production hub for Bioton. One should not forget the Israeli plant owned by SciGen.