CHA Bio Group, the parent of CHA Biotech Co., South Korea’s leading stem cell therapeutics developer, has agreed to acquire control of Kakao Healthcare Corp. in a deal worth 80 billion won ($54.5 million), forming an alliance that pairs one of Asia-Pacific’s largest clinical networks with Korea’s most recognisable consumer-technology brand.
CHA Bio said on Wednesday that it will swap stakes with Kakao and commit fresh capital to accelerate a “global digital-healthcare partnership” combining CHA’s overseas hospital network with Kakao’s data and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Under the agreement, CHA Cares Co., a CHA Biotech subsidiary that manages hospital facilities and offers patient care services, and its cosmetics affiliate CHA AI Healthcare Co. will buy 70 billion won worth of existing Kakao Healthcare shares.
CHA AI Healthcare will inject an additional 10 billion won into Kakao Healthcare through a rights issue.
Kakao Group, which owns Korea’s top messenger app KakaoTalk, will recycle 40 billion won of the 70 billion won proceeds into the same rights issue and spend the remaining 30 billion won to acquire shares in CHA Biotech.
Kakao Healthcare plans to raise an additional 50 billion won from external investors.
NEW KAKAO HEALTHCARE SHAREHOLDINGS
Once the transactions are completed, Kakao Healthcare will have secured about 100 billion won in new funding, including 40 billion won from Kakao and 10 billion won from CHA AI Healthcare’s capital increase.
The reshuffle will transform Kakao Healthcare’s shareholder base.
Kakao, which previously wholly owned Kakao Healthcare, will see its stake fall to 30%.
CHA Cares and CHA AI Healthcare together will hold 43%, becoming the largest shareholders, while IMM Investment Corp. and other financial investors (FIs) will own the remaining 27%.
Kakao Healthcare said it plans to use the raised capital to strengthen its core businesses, including Pasta, a mobile glucose-monitoring app, medical-data services, and CareChat, a digital concierge for hospitals.
Executives said the tie-up with CHA Group would give the company a path to global expansion by tapping CHA’s network of 77 medical-service platforms across six countries – the US, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam.
CHA Bio Group said it aims to parlay Kakao’s digital tools into a broader transformation of its hospitals and clinics, positioning itself as a “smart healthcare group” with a differentiated model in the region’s increasingly data-driven medical market.
