FANCL acquired: Kirin aims to become one of APAC’s largest health science firms

17-Sep-2024 - Last updated on 17-Sep-2024 at 01:33 GMT

Japan’s alcoholic beverage giant Kirin is aiming to become one of the largest health science companies in Asia-Pacific with its subsidiaries Blackmores and FANCL. © Getty Images

Japan’s beverage giant Kirin has completed the acquisition of FANCL and is now aiming to “become one of the largest health science companies in Asia-Pacific.”

Skincare firm FANCL will become its wholly-owned subsidiary on September 19 – six days after announcing that the acquisition was successful.

“We are confident that this will further leverage the strengths of both groups and provide new value to consumers in Japan and overseas.

“We will do our utmost to create synergies through our efforts and determination to enhance the value of FANCL's business.

“Together with Blackmores in Australia, we aim to become one of the largest health science companies in the Asia-Pacific region and achieve growth for the entire group," said Takeshi Minakata, president and chief operating officer of Kirin Holdings.

Even before the acquisition, Kirin had acquired about 33 per cent of FANCL’s shares and entered into an alliance agreement five years ago.

FANCL CEO Kazuyuki Shimada believes that the experience working together in the past five years would benefit future cooperation.

““In the five years since the capital and business alliance with Kirin Holdings in 2019, various synergies have been generated, mutual understanding between the two companies has deepened, and the relationship of trust between them has become strong and robust.

“We believe that we will be able to maximise synergies in a shorter period of time by enabling the sharing of know-how, technical information, etc. between the two groups, which has been limited in the past,” he said.

Kirin first announced its intention to acquire FANCL in June.

It said back then that acquiring FANCL could bring synergies across both health supplement and skin care products. This includes the possibility of using Kirin’s flagship immune health ingredient LC-plasma in skincare products.

With FANCL under its belt, Kirin is also expecting its health science portfolio to contribute about eight per cent to its overall business.

Just a month ago, there were still concerns that the takeover bid of FANCL might not be successful.

In August, Kirin’s CEO Yoshinori Isozaki said in the firm’s half-year financial results that there might be plans to acquire an overseas asset or pour more investment into Blackmores if FANCL’s acquisition failed to go through.

With the acquisition, FANCL said it would also accelerate its collaboration with Blackmores in the global markets.

Blackmores, Kirin’s other subsidiary, said that the trio have complementary strengths that could help Kirin become one of the largest health science firms in APAC.

“At Blackmores, we fully support the Kirin Group’s bold vision to become one of the largest health science companies in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Blackmores CEO Alastair Symington.

“Their acquisition of FANCL is a key step in realizing this ambition and connecting even more consumers to the best possible health solutions.

“It’s an exciting prospect that in the future these solutions will be built off the core strengths of Kirin R&D, FANCL knowledge in developing superior products in skin and health, combined with Blackmores’ strong naturopathic heritage and evidence-based knowledge in the field of health science,” he said.