Investcorp takes stake in Wuhan medical testing specialist Kindstar

The investment is part of the company's drive to diversify its portfolio and invest more in the world's second-largest economy

Investcorp on Monday said it has invested in a Wuhan-based medical testing firm, serving patients across 600 Chinese cities. Courtesy Investcorp

Bahrain-listed alternative asset manager Investcorp is making a strategic investment in Chinese medical testing firm Kindstar Globalgene.

The deal with Wuhan-based Kindstar is part of the company’s plan to diversify its Asian portfolio and invest further in China, the world’s second-largest economy, Investcorp said in a statement on Monday. It did not give further details of the transaction.

Investcorp recently launched a platform focused on investing in high-quality Chinese healthcare companies that remained resilient throughout the pandemic and are expected to witness accelerated growth.

“Our focus on healthcare opportunities in China allowed us to identify Kindstar, which has built impressive capabilities for improving the quality of healthcare through severe diseases-related testing,” Hazem Ben-Gacem, co-chief executive of Investcorp, said.

“We believe that Kindstar has significant growth potential driven by accelerating demand for precision medicine, [an] underserved market and the company’s broadening advanced solutions to address an even wider range of specialty healthcare needs.”

In September, Investcorp acquired minority equity stakes in Lu Daopei Medical Group, a leading haematology hospitals group in China and WeDoctor, an online healthcare services company.

Kindstar offers patients and physicians broad access to advanced specialty testing services across haematology, gynaecology and paediatrics, infectious diseases, oncology and neurology. It currently serves more than 3,000 hospitals across 600 cities in China.

The company is among China’s leading medical testing firms with an international network and serves clients such as the Mayo Clinic, Illumina and Novartis.

Investcorp is a global investment manager, specialising in alternative investments across private equity, real estate, private credit and absolute return strategies.

The company plans to invest $4 billion on property acquisitions in the US and Europe over the next two years, Jon Dracos, head of real estate investment at Investcorp told The National earlier this month.

The company plans to fund its acquisitions through a mix of debt and equity, according to Mr Dracos.

With a presence in 12 countries across the US, Europe, the GCC and Asia, Investcorp Group has $32.2bn of assets under management.