Invitrogen buys Shanghai company

Invitrogen buys Shanghai company

Agence France-Presse, Beijing

U.S. biomedical company Invitrogen has purchased a Shanghai- based private firm for US$8 million, a company announcement and state media said on Sunday.

The acquisition came just days before China opened its biotech industry to foreign-owned companies Saturday, the third anniversary of its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"The rapid growth of China's biotech and medical research industries and the major WTO change opening the market to international companies add fuel to Invtirogen already robust commercial potential in the country," Invitrogen's chairman and CEO Greg Lucier said in an online press release.

The acquisition of Bio Asia, which has been supplying sequencing reagents for genomic research to the Chinese biotechnology sector since 1999, will allow the U.S. company to expand its products and services in China for the domestic market, Lucier said.

The Nasdaq-listed company plans to invest at least $20 million in China over the next five years, he said.

With the acquisition of Bio Asia, Invitrogen China, which established its first representative office in 1989, will have more than 170 employees in the country.

It hopes to capitalize on China's fast growing biotech, pharmaceutical and traditional Chinese medicine industries.

Liu Pei, general manager and current board member of Bio Asia, will become country manager.

Founded in Carlsbad, California in 1987, Invitrogen Corporation provides life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery and commercial bio-production.

Its own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in major areas of biological discovery, the statement said.

The company globally employs approximately 4,000 scientists and other professionals.