(Yicai Global) May 13 -- Shares in B-Soft soared by as much as 18.2 percent today after the Chinese healthcare software developer said that Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips’ China arm has purchased a 10 percent stake in the company to become its second-largest shareholder.

B-Soft’s share price [SHE:300451] was trading up 5.46 percent at CNY7.15 (USD1) by the end of morning trading. Earlier in the day it had hit CNY8.02.

Philips (China) Investment has offered a price of CNY7.90 (USD1.20) per share, a 16.5 percent premium on B-Soft’s closing price yesterday, in a deal worth CNY1.2 billion (USD180 million), B-Soft said yesterday. Chairman Ge Hang remains the majority shareholder with 14.2 percent equity, it added.

The move will help B-Soft expand its market, enhance product innovation and improve its core competitiveness in medical informatization, an area that combines digital technology with medical care, the Hangzhou-based company said.

Founded in 1997, B-Soft was one of the first Chinese software providers to tap into the medical informatization sector. The firm has conducted nearly 20,000 such projects and has over 7,000 clients. Its public health-related programs span more than 370 districts and counties nationwide and it collects the healthcare records of about 300 million people.

Last year, B-Soft logged a 24.2 percent surge in net profit from the year before to CNY413 million (USD60.8 million). Revenue jumped 16.3 percent to CNY1.9 billion (USD279.5 million).

Editor: Kim Taylor