KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd wholly-owned subsidiary HS Bio Supplies Sdn Bhd has completed its 60 per cent stake acquisition in Neogenix Laboratoire Sdn Bhd (NLSB) for RM6.5 million.
Hong Seng executive chairman Datuk Teoh Hai Hin said the acquisition of NLSB is a timely investment as the rising number of Covid-19 cases have resulted in a great demand for the company's services.
Teoh said besides widening the group's capabilities to complement its healthcare business, this acquisition is also expected to contribute positively to the overall future earnings of the group as the company have major plans to grow NLSB.
"We are pleased that the acquisition of NLSB has been completed in the first quarter of 2021 as promised when we first made the proposal back in December," he said.
NLSB is a medical diagnostic and research laboratory and provides more than 76 tests ranging from infectious diseases, oncology, precision medicine, generic tests and et cetera.
NLSB also offers a wide range of customised life science services in the field of research and development, such as DNA and RNA extraction, bioanalyzer, tapestation and gene expression microarray services, next generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics analysis.
NLSB has recently obtained a letter of award from Malaysia's Ministry of Health to be one of the private laboratories in providing real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Covid-19 samples testing.
Hong Seng aims to be an integrated healthcare provider through its subsidiary HS Bio and the group is engaging in the business of trading and provision of bio supplies, healthcare products, medical equipment, supplements, test kits, vaccines, among others.
HS Bio currently also owns 51 per cent of Pantasniaga Sdn Bhd which is in the business of provisioning PCR test kits and test labs setups for government and medical agencies.
The company also owns 20 per cent in eMedAsia Sdn Bhd, a company that runs an e-health digital platform by KOOP MMA which aims to digitalise private healthcare systems with access to potentially a network of 6,000 private clinics nationwide.
HS Bio is in the midst of completing the additional 32 per cent acquisition of eMedAsia.