Samsung breaks into biomedical sector

Samsung Group marked its first step into the biopharmaceutical business with the establishment of its joint venture with U.S. drugmaker Quintiles Transnational Corp.

The company on Friday said the joint venture will be established during the first half of this year, to be capitalized at 300 billion won ($265.5 million).

It will be controlled 90 percent by Samsung Group. Quintiles will hold a 10 percent stake.

A biopharmaceutical production plant in the Songdo International City in Incheon Free Economic Zone will be established to start producing biopharmaceutical drugs for the treatment of cancer and arthritis patients in 2013. 

The agreement on the venture follows Samsung’s recent pledges to break into new industries to develop future growth engines.

The group said last year that it will spend 23 trillion won over the next 10 years in new businesses, including 2.1 trillion won in the biomedicine and pharmaceutical sectors.

Other new areas that Samsung will see to invest in were solar power, advanced generation of rechargeable batteries and display technology.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee has recently been reiterating his aspirations to try and navigate new paths for growth for Samsung, despite that the group’s flagship electronics unit achieved record-high revenues last year.

Samsung Electronics, Samsung Everland, Samsung C&T Corp. and Quintiles will all own separate stakes in the new venture with Quintiles.

Samsung Group and Quintiles also agreed to funnel 2.1 trillion won by 2017 to build production facilities and a research and development center in Incheon, South Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a separate statement.

“We announced last year that we expect to reap 1.8 trillion won revenues from the biomedicine area in 2020,” Kim Tae-han, Samsung’s vice president, told reporters.

Quintiles is the world’s leading fully-integrated bio and pharmaceutical services provider offering clinical, commercial, consulting and capital solutions, Samsung said. The company employs 23,000 employees in 60 countries.

The joint venture is expected to create more than 300 new positions that will be recruited from abroad and from Samsung affiliates, Samsung Group said.

By Kim Ji-hyun and news reports (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)