South Korea's SK Bioscience to buy control of Germany's IDT Biologika for $244 mln (updated)

SK Bioscience Co

27/06/2024 02:57

(Adds deal details in paragraph 2; share move in paragraph 3;
CEO comment and background in paragraphs 4-6)
       SEOUL, June 27 (Reuters) - SK Bioscience  302440.KS 
will acquire a 60% stake in German pharmaceutical contract
manufacturing firm IDT Biologika GmbH from Klocke Gruppe in a
deal worth 339 billion won ($243.75 million), the South Korean
vaccine maker said on Thursday.
    Klocke, a pharmaceutical group, will retain a 40% stake in
the firm. 
    This is SK Bioscience's first major M&A deal since its 2021
IPO raised $1.33 billion. SK Bioscience shares were trading up
11.7% in morning trade after the announcement.
    Its parent SK Group  034730.KS , best known for its chip
firm SK Hynix  000660.KS , has been considering ways to
streamline its business to focus on key areas including
artificial intelligence, chips and batteries.
    The group is working on rebalancing each business area, SK
Bioscience CEO Jaeyong Ahn told reporters on Thursday, adding
that the deal was aligned with the company's "big flow of
overall optimisation."
    The group will hold a two-day strategy meeting from Friday
to discuss rebalancing businesses among its affiliates.

    
($1 = 1,390.7600 won)

 (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Kim Coghill and Janane
Venkatraman)
 ((joyce.lee@tr.com;))